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The Crucial Race Que&ion 



SPECIAL PRAYER 

AUTHORIZED BY THE BISHOP OF ARKANSAS 



BLMIGHTY God, who, by Thy Son Jesus Chrisl, didst 
give commandment to Thy Holy Apostles, that they 
should go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature; grant to us whom Thou hast called into 
Thy church a ready will to obey Thy Word, and fill us 
with a hearty desire to make Thy way known upon earth, 
Thy saving health among all races. Look with compassion 
upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and on the 
multitudes in our own land that are scattered abroad as 
sheep having no shepherd. Especially we beseech Thee 
to have pity upon the Negroes who dwell in these United 
States. Answer the prayers of their leaders to the General 
Convention of our Anglo-American church and raise up for 
them through us a true and adequate ministry of Afro- 
American Bishops and other pastors. Greatly increase and 
bless all the means, used to bring this poor, helpless, 
people to a saving knowledge of Thy dear Son, the sinless 
Jesus who came into the world to save it from sin. Stir up 
the hearts of all who profess and call themselves Christians 
to prayer and deeds of mercy on behalf of this people. 
Give to our civil and ecclesiastical rulers a sense of 
honor, truth and justice in all their dealings with them, and 
fill this whole nation with compassion for them. Lord 
of the harvest, graciously have respe<5t we beseech Thee, 
to our prayers, and speedily send forth a due supply of 
Racial Bishops, Priests and Deacons into our great needy 
Afro- American missionary field. Fit and prepare them by 
Thy grace for the work of their ministry; give them the 
spirit of hope, love, and power; strengthen them to endure 
hardness; and grant that, both by their life and doctrine, 
they may show forth Thy Glory, and set forward the 
Salvation of their Race; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



JL 



THE 



CRUCIAL RACE 
QUESTION 



:QR= 



WHERE AND HOW SHALL 
THE COLOR LINE BE DRAWN 



BY 



The Rt. Rev. WILLIAM MONTGOMERY BROWN, D. D. 

BISHOP OF ARKANSAS 



It is these millions that will put to a crucial test the moralizing 
power of American Christianity. 




Second Edition 

THE ARKANSAS CHURCHMAN'S PUBLISHING CO, 

Little Rock, Arkansas 

MCMVII 



\?5 



jUBflARY «f -S3) 

One vioi-v Kc-ceivfcfl 

| DEC 16 190? 



COPY A. 



^Jt 



COPYRIGHT 1907 

BY 

WILLIAM MONTGOMERY BROWN 



O O (. 



PRESS OF 

A. N. KELLOGG NEWSPAPER CO. 

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. 



/J - 



t / i r/% £ 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
TO THE 

PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH 

BY A 
GRATEFUL ADOPTED SON 



"On this great question 1 stand now, where Webster stood and 
Henry Clay; where Thomas stood, and Abraham Lincoln, and Henry 
Grady, and Councill and Turner and the rest — where in time all men 
will stand who see the light and dare to face it. 

"SEPARATION is the logical, the inevitable, the only way. No 
other proposed solution will stand the test of logic and experiment- 

"For no statute will permanently solve this problem. No anodyne 
of law, no counter-irritant of legislation will quiet it longer than the 
hour of its application. The evil is in the blood of races, the disease 
is in the bones and the marrow and the skin of antagonistic people. 

"Religion does not solve the problem, for the ChrisT: Spirit will 
not be all-pervasive until the millenial dawn. 

"Education complicates the problem. Every year of enlighten- 
ment increases the negro's apprehension of his position, of his merit 
and attainment and of the inconsistency between his real and his 
constitutional status in the Republic. Education brings perception, 
and ambition follows, with the aggressive assertion against the iron 
walls of a prejudice that has never yielded and will never yield. The 
conflict is irrepressible and inevitable. 

"Time complicates the problem by giving increasing numbers 
and additional provocation to the Negro, and increasing danger to 
the struggle which logic and destiny render certain. 

"Politics complicates the problem by bringing times of fierce 
conflict when the passions and prejudices of faction may be moved to 
partisan alignment with the deep and lurking dangers of the Race 
Question. 

"We have come in God's providence to the parting of the ways. 
In the name of history and of humanity; in the interest of both races, 
and in the fear of God, I call for a division. We can make it peace- 
ably now. We may be forced to accomplish it in blood hereafter." 

"JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES." 



PREFACE 



I. The Arkansas Plan and Memorial. II. The Drift 
Towards a Racial Episcopate. III. What God 
Hath Joined Together Let No Man Put Asunder, or 
the Philosophy of Color-Line Drawing. IV. A 
Southernized Northerner Talking Cursed Prejudice 
to Dixie Galleries. 



The Arkansas Plan and Memorial 

The Nineteen Hundred and Six Session of the 
Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
Diocese of Arkansas passed the following- resolutions : 

i. Resolved: That the plan of the Bishop of the 
Diocese looking to the creation of an autonomous 
Afro-American Church, be and hereby is approved. 

2. Resolved : Furthermore, that the General Con- 
vention be memorialized or petitioned to take such 
steps as may be necessary to consummate that plan. 

This book is written partly for the purpose of 
commending as strongly and widely as possible the 
Memorial or Petition provided for in these resolutions 
but the chief end in view is the recommendation to the 
general public of the author's solution of the whole 



xii The Crucial Eace Question 

Great American Race Problem by the drawing of the 
Color-Line. An effort is made to accomplish these 
objects by the establishment of six propositions: (i) 
No race can amount to anything without self-govern- 
ment ; (2) The only realm in which the Negro in these 
United States can hope to govern himself is that 
of religion ; (3) Under present conditions, the 
American Negro, speaking generally, is degenerating 
instead of advancing; (4) The Afro-American can be 
saved from utter ruin and extinction only by the 
bridging of the ever-widening and deepening gulf 
which now exists between him and the Anglo- 
American ; (5) This necessary bridging cannot be done 
without the complete drawing of the Color-Line 
around the Social, Political and Religious Realms, and 
(6) The necessity for self-government and for the 
bridging of the gulf between Anglo-Americans and 
Afro-Americans by the drawing of the Color-Line 
makes it necessary that American Negroes should 
have a wholly independent, autonomous Church. 

The reader will be interested to know that the reso- 
lutions providing for the presentation of the Arkansas 
Memorial to the General Convention, were carried 
almost unanimously, there being only three votes 
against them ; and it is well known that those who 
cast them did so, not because they are opposed to the 
idea of an Afro-American Episcopate, but because 
they were not quite settled in their own mind as to 
what its form should be, Missionary, Suffragan or 
Autonomous. Two of the three have since said that 
upon the whole they are inclined to the opinion that I 
am right in my contention that it should be 



Peefaoe xiii 

autonomous. The three negative votes were cast by 
Clergymen, two of whom are Northern men, and one 
is an Englishman by birth. It is significant that all 
Southerners, both Clergy and Laity, voted in the 
affirmative. 

Thus it will be seen that, not only do we in 
Arkansas believe that the consecration of Negro 
Bishops is most necessary and expedient, but, also, 
that to insure the very best development of this work, 
there must be a separate and distinct organization. 
Any measure short of this, in our judgment, will 
prove to be temporary and insufficient, embarrassing 
to both races, and injurious to all the interests con- 
cerned. The colored as well as the white Churchmen 
of Arkansas are now almost wholly given over to 
this opinion. There is very little if any difference 
among us. 

From the point of view of nearly all white Church- 
men in Arkansas it would be a serious mistake, the 
ill effects of which would be felt by the Church for 
many years, to give our Negro brethren the Epis- 
copate without drawing an impassable Color-Line 
completely around the General Convention. Such a 
course would simply be the shifting of our present 
difficulty without getting rid of it. It would be 
jumping from the "frying pan" of our Diocesan 
Councils into "the fire" of the General Convention. 

Of course, if, in order to guard against the schism 
of which so many are afraid, we should elect and 
consecrate only two Afro-American Missionary 
Bishops, they and their delegations would, perhaps, 
not be embarrassing to an intolerable degree, but 



xiv The Crucial Race Question 

because of physical limitations and impossibilities 
such an Episcopate would be doomed to failure. If 
the proposed Afro-American Episcopate is to justify 
the hope that its friends, black and white, center in 
it, ultimately there must be nearly as many colored 
Bishops in the Black Belts of the South as there 
are white Bishops now ; and it must be started out 
with at least four of them, three for the South and 
one for the North. 

I am among those who do not regard the General 
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
the United States of America as being of Divine 
institution or as absolutely necessary to the existence 
of our American branch of the Catholic and Apostolic 
Church of the Anglo-Saxon race. Nevertheless I 
think that the General Convention is a good thing, and 
that it will be an evil day for the Church when its 
doors are opened to any considerable number of 
Negro Bishops and delegations, as it would be if the 
appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Missionary 
Bishops and Jurisdictions should be granted by the 
creation of an adequate episcopate. 



II 



The Drift Towards a Racial Episcopate 

In the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for 
Bishops of their own and the disposition on the part 
of at least twelve Southern Bishops to grant that 
appeal we have a most remarkable drift which cannot 
be satisfactorily accounted for by a religious mind 



Preface xv 

except upon the assumption of an over-ruling Provi- 
dence which makes the drawing and recognition of 
the ecclesiastical Color-Line an absolute necessity. 

Concerning this drift we remark, first, that the 
colored Churchmen themselves have entirely changed, 
face about. In 1883 the Sewanee Conference of 
Southern Bishops proposed a special and separate 
Diocesan organization for our Negroes. The first 
general association of Afro-American Churchmen, 
which afterwards developed into the Conference 
of Workers Among Colored People that is now 
asking for Negro Bishops with Missionary Jurisdic- 
tions, was called together for the primary purpose 
of opposing the scheme for the separate organization 
for colored people recommended by the Sewanee 
Conference. A colored Episcopate had not been sug- 
gested, but only a separate organization of Colored 
Churchmen under the Diocesan Bishops, something 
like that which now for nearly two years has been 
in operation with good results in Arkansas. 

The change which has taken place in the Bishops 
of the South is no less remarkable than that in the 
North. In 1902 the writer of this book was, so far 
as he knows, the only Bishop in the Anglo-American 
Church who advocated an Afro-American Episcopate. 
In 1904 one other Southern Bishop came out in favor 
of granting the appeal of the Conference of Church 
Workers which was first made at its 1903 session. 
Tn 1906 the Southern Bishops who took this side of 
the question were found at a Sewanee Conference to 
number eleven. In 1907 at the time of going to press 
there are, I believe, fourteen. Thus, in the course of 



xvi The Crucial Eace Question 

the short space of about four years, thirteen Bishops 
"experienced a change of heart" upon the question of 
an Afro-American Episcopate. 

This change, so far as the Conference of Church 
Workers is concerned, is remarkable enough; but in 
the case of the Bishops of the South it falls but little, 
if any, short of the phenomenal. It is evidently due, 
in the case of each Bishop, to the force of circum- 
stances arising as the result of new conditions which 
first became irresistible in Arkansas and Texas, and 
which are rapidly becoming so throughout the South- 
land. The rapid spread and resistless character of 
the new conditions which in many sections of the 
South render it absolutely necessary to separate 
completely the work of the Church among colored 
and white people, may be judged of by the fact that a 
Bishop who at the Sewanee Conference of 1905 
strongly opposed the idea of separation favored it at 
the 1906 Conference, when he said, to the great sur- 
prise of his brethren, "I have been reluctantly forced 
to believe that some separation is necessary to the 
proper development of the work." 

I reiterate, such a change in such men cannot be 
accounted for except upon the hypothesis of a rapid 
and resistless change of conditions which is destined to 
carry everything before it. It is indeed true that some 
among the Southern Bishops are holding out against 
.the separation movement by stoutly opposing the 
granting of the Appeal. But their helplessness reminds 
me of a familiar scene of my boyhood days. I was 
a farmer's lad, and among the humble, juvenile 
tasks which fell to me was the driving of a herd of 



Preface xvii 

cows to and from the pasture. I was assisted by a 
companionable, amiable, faithful shepherd dog which 
generally was content to head off and change the 
course of wilful members of the herd. When he did 
this, he was usually successful in bringing them into 
line. But, once in a while, some more persistent and 
obstreperous cow would cause him to lose his even 
temper and good judgment, for then he would try 
to force the situation by grabbing her tail and 
attempting to hold her back with all his might and 
main. This never worked. In spite of the frantic 
efforts in which the dog exhausted his strength, the 
cow always went straight on in her forbidden path 
until he came to himself, gave up his foolishness, ran 
around and took hold of the ear on the opposite side 
from the direction in which he wanted to turn her. 

The would-be obstructors of the force which is mak- 
ing for the segregation of Afro-American and Anglo- 
American Churchmen by the drawing of the Color- 
Line through the Episcopal Church, display about as 
much wisdom as my dog did when he took hold of 
the cow's tail. They are making an heroic but a vain 
endeavor to check a resistless movement which will 
continue right on in spite of their efforts to hold it 
back. 

Ill 

What God Hath Joined Together Let No Man Put 
Asunder, or the Philosophy of Color-Line Drawing 

I am painfully conscious of the fact that there are 
many who will follow me more or less closely while I 
am recommending an Afro-American Episcopate, but 



xviii The Crucial Race Question 

will take almost indignant leave of me whenever I 
touch upon the questions of Negro degeneration and 
the necessity of Social and Civil Color-Line drawing. 
I have tried, in the body of the essay, with what 
success the reader must judge, to justify myself in 
what I have said upon the sad subject of Negro degen- 
eration, and so I shall pass it over in these prefatory 
remarks and confine myself in them to the greater of 
the two great objections to my position, that of Color- 
Line drawing. 

Those who have criticised me because of what I 
have said and written concerning the drawing of the 
Color-Line about the Social and Civil Realms while 
approving my utterances upon the subject of ecclesi- 
astical Color-Line drawing have made the common 
and fatal mistake of separating that which God has 
joined together. The necessity for dealing in this 
essay with the whole race question, instead of only 
with the ecclesiastical phase of it, arises from the fact 
that the Council and Bishop of Arkansas are recom- 
mending, open and above board, a response to the 
Appeal of Afro-American Churchmen which involves 
the drawing of the Color-Line about the Church, 
as it has been drawn or is being drawn about 
the Civil and Social Realms. The ecclesiastical Color- 
Line is confessedly the last of such lines to be drawn, 
and there are many who contend that it should not be 
drawn at all. 

But ecclesiastical Color-Line drawing is either right 
or wrong. Practically all Negroes say that it is, at 
least theoretically wrong, and there are many Northern 
Caucasians who agree with them. But nearly all 






Preface xix 

Southern and not a few Northern Caucasians contend 
that ecclesiastical Color-Line drawing is right. I take 
my stand with these. Now, this being the case, will 
my critics kindly do, what none among them have ever 
undertaken to do; explain how reasonably I can hope 
to bring any objector to ecclesiastical Color-Line draw- 
ing to my point of view unless I can prove its right- 
eousness in Civil and Social affairs? 

There is a unity running through nature which 
binds the social, civil and religious realms much closer 
together than is commonly supposed. Therefore, he 
who would recommend that a course should be pursued 
respecting, say, the social realm which would be 
wrong in the religious realm, has a great burden of 
proof resting upon him. If Color-Line drawing is 
right in the social realm, it is right in the religious 
realm and the civil realm, and in each case the 
reverse of this reasoning must be true or else the 
universally accepted doctrine concerning the unity of 
nature is not true. One or the other of these conclu- 
sions seems to me to be unavoidable. 

The doctrine of the unity of nature is an hypothesis 
which is accepted by all scientists and philosophers 
among us. This being the case, the inseparableness of 
the social, civil and religious realms is entitled to 
recognition as a governing article of our larger religi- 
ous creed. All religious evolutionists hold that God 
has not ceased to reveal himself to the world. Our 
scientists and ■ philosophers may quite properly be 
regarded as the special prophets who are revealing 
God to us. We are not obliged in this age of science 
and philosophy to believe any one of these prophets, 



xx The Crucial Race Question 

or even any two or three of them, though they may be 
among the greatest; but when, as in the case of the 
hypothesis of the unity of nature, there is general 
agreement among them, we cannot wisely or rightly 
reject their message. Action upon this rational 
principle will make the doctrine of the unity of nature 
a part of our ever growing scientific creed which 
should be taken account of in the discussion that is 
now engaging the Church, quite as much as any 
article of the Catholic Creed, for the latter creed is in 
such matters no more surely a revelation of God's will 
than the former. 

Complexity is an inseparable accompaniment of 
highly developed civilizations, but complexity does 
not necessarily imply a lack of unity. Man is a very 
much more complex being than a field of the proto- 
plasmic life from which he is said to have originated by 
a long line of development through an almost infinite 
series of beings of more and more complex organism. 
But there is no representative of the animal kingdom 
that is so much one as man. A mass of protoplasm of 
the size or weight of man might be divided into ten 
thousand pieces, and each piece would be a complete 
living unit, as much so as it was before the division 
commenced; but in the case of man, the process of 
division cannot proceed very far without dividing him 
out of physical existence. 

The greatest among the distinguishing characteris- 
tics of man is civilization, and the civilization in which 
this generation has the good fortune of participating, 
is almost, if, indeed, not quite as much of a develop- 
ment as is the human body. And as the body of man 



Pkeface xxi 

has its three essential and, at least so far as this life 
is concerned, inseparable parts, (i) the Physical, (2) 
the Spiritual, and (3) the Soul, which binds physical 
and spiritual together and is the basis of their life; so 
the civilization of man has its three parts, (1) the 
Social, (2) the Civil, and (3) the Religious, which 
binds the social and civil together and is the basis 
of their associated life. Furthermore, in the process 
of development, the essential constituent elements of 
man's civilization, like those of his body, are divided 
as they were not originally, and yet in both cases the 
unity is as great as ever. In fact, it is much greater 
now than it originally was. If Color-Line drawing 
was ever a necessity, if it was ever right, it is more so 
under a complex civilization, such as ours, than it was 
under a less developed and more simple one; because 
there is by reason of a world-wide commercial system 
so much more in the way of the commingling of peoples. 

The social, civil and religious realms are now, as 
we have seen, divided or differentiated the one from 
the other as they were not originally, but neverthe- 
less they are still as much one as they ever were, and 
perhaps in some respects even more so. This unity in 
the domain of man's spiritual organism, like the unity 
in the domain of his physical organism, seems to 
increase in exact ratio with the increase of complexity. 
It is this unity which makes it impossible that it 
should be right to draw the Color-Line in the religious 
realm of the domain of man's civilization, if it be 
wrong to draw it in either the social or civil realms. 
And of course the converse of this must be true, that is 
to say, if it be right to draw the Color-Line in the 



xxii The Crucial Eace Question 

social or civil realms, it is wrong not to draw it in the 
religious realm. 

So many of my friends have insisted that it would 
have been much better for the cause which I have at 
heart, if I had made the Arkansas Plan of answering 
the Appeal of Afro-American Churchmen by the crea- 
tion of an autonomous or independent Episcopate and 
Church, my text and had stuck to it. But what is the 
history of the Arkansas Plan? What is the history of 
this whole movement? Is it not a record of Color- 
Line drawing? An object in this essay is, indeed, to 
commend the Arkansas Plan ; but since to do this 
is the same thing as to commend ecclesiastical Color- 
Line drawing, how could I, in view of the law of 
unity by which the social, civil and religious realms are 
bound inseparablely together, proceed with my argu- 
ment concerning the necessity and righteousness of 
drawing the religious Color-Line without reference 
to what either has been, or should be done in the 
matter of drawing the social and civil Color-Lines? 
There really was no way open to me to go anywhere 
or do anything in the interest of the Arkansas Plan 
except the one which crosses the whole field of race 
antipathy and its resultant Color-Line drawing. 

One reason for dealing with the whole subject of 
Color-Line drawing as I have done in this essay, is the 
fact that a man or a people cannot be saved in sec- 
tions. The whole man or the whole people must be 
saved. If, therefore, Color-Line drawing is necessary 
to save the Afro-American and the Anglo-American 
from mutual degradation, it will not be sufficient to 



Preface xxiii 

draw it in the case of the social realm. The law which 
unifies all nature will always prevent any such partial 
measure from accomplishing the end in view. The fact 
of the matter is that the Color-Line cannot be drawn 
permanently about the social realm, unless it is also 
drawn about the civil and religious realms. All history 
attests the truth of this statement. 

Caucasians in the United States, everywhere, North 
and South, either have drawn or are drawing an 
impassable social Color-Line between themselves and 
Negroes. There is not now very much if any differ- 
ence of opinion among us as to the necessity and 
righteousness of this action. But either Caucasians 
have committed a great wrong in so doing, or else 
Anglo-American Churchmen will commit a great 
wrong if they create an Afro-American "Missionary" 
Episcopate with "representation" in the General Con- 
vention. If it is right to draw the Color-Line at all, 
the unity of nature renders it wrong not to draw it 
about all three of the realms of human civilization, 
that is, about the family, the state and the church. For 
this reason my argument in favor of Ecclesiastical 
Color-Line drawing would have been most incomplete 
and inconclusive, if it had been confined to the latter 
of these realms. A great scientific and philosophic 
hypothesis would have been left out of the considera- 
tion, and such an omission, in this day of science and 
philosophy, would have weakened my case greatly. 
And, really, to argue the case simply from the stand- 
point of religion was a logical impossibility, because 
religion, politics and society are too intimately and 
inseparably connected. In fact at the bottom they 



xxiv The Ckucial Race Question 

are one and the same thing. If society is what it 
ought to be, it is religious; and if politics is what it 
ought to be, it is religious. Conversely if religion is 
what it ought to be, it is social and political. 

The essence of religion is obedience to God's will. 
Now it manifestly is God's will to have different races 
of mankind, otherwise he would have made all alike. 
He drew the Color-Line, and the failure to recognize 
it is irreligious, because it is disobedience. To argue 
that it should be recognized in the social realm, but 
that the contrary is true in the religious realm, is to 
take an irreligious position, because the unity of God 
and nature would be denied. If science teaches us 
anything about God, it is that he is one, and that there 
is a unity running through all his works. 

When, as we have observed, an hypothesis of science 
or philosophy has become generally accepted, as long 
as it remains so it is a revelation of the will of God 
by which individuals, societies, states and Churches 
should be governed just as much as if the hypothesis 
were a precept in the sacred Scriptures of a people. 
If it were evident that Color-Line drawing is not 
admissible in religion, its inadmissibility would be 
equally evident to the consistent scientist and philoso- 
pher in the social and political realms. It follows, 
therefore, that if it be necessary and right to draw the 
Color-Line about either the family or the state or the 
Church, it is also necessary and right to draw that line 
about the other two institutions of civilization. The 
hypothesis that the Christian religion does away with 
human distinctions in the religious realm will not 
stand, because it denies the unity of nature, and such 



Preface xxv 

denial involves the rejection of the fundamental doc- 
trine of Christianity, the Divinity of Christ, for God 
is the author of nature; and if Christ was Divine, He 
could not have disregarded its unity. 

But for its length, the title of this book might well 
have been "The Salvation of the Afro-American 
Dependent Upon the Complete Drawing of the Color- 
Line About the Social, Civil and Religious Realms." 
It is true that the immediate occasion of my effort to 
establish this thesis is the appeal of Colored Church- 
men for a racial Episcopate ; but I hope it is now 
clear to the reader that I could not deal with that 
appeal in a scientific way without opening up 
the whole question of Color-Line drawing. The 
Appeal itself necessarily brings up that question. 
Why is the Appeal made? Because of the recognition 
of the fact that the representatives of one race are 
prevented by some law of nature, that is to say, by 
the will of God, from being true pastors to another 
race. The making of that Appeal was a religious duty 
and the granting of it would be a religious act. But 
the Appeal, so far as it relates to "representation" in 
the General Convention, is all wrong, unless it is all 
wrong to draw the Color-Line about any of the three 
essential institutions upon which the progress of 
humanity in the way of civilization depends. 

If, then, anybody undertakes to answer me and to 
discredit the Arkansas Plan of granting the Appeal by 
creating racial Bishops without representation in the 
General Convention, he will have the difficult two-fold 
task of proving (i) that Color-Line drawing is wrong, 
and (2) that racial Bishops are justifiable. For it is 



xxvi The Crucial Eace Question 

a self-evident fact that the creation of a racial Episco- 
pate would be the recognition of a differentiating force 
of some kind, call it what you please — in this country- 
it has come to be called the Color-Line; and it is 
equally self-evident that the "representation" of such 
a racial Episcopate in the Body of which it is asked, 
would be the ignoring of that line. 

We have therefore, in this dual appeal, an irreconcil- 
able contradiction ; and if the General Convention were 
to grant it, it would be guilty of trying to hold right 
in one hand and wrong in the other, and the net result 
of such action would be all wrong, for in the realm of 
morality there is no right in the breaking of one law 
in order to keep another. 



IV 



A Southernized Northerner Talking Cursed Prejudice to 
Dixie Galleries 

By the same delivery I received two letters from 
Priests of widely separated portions of the country, 
one an Anglo-American and the other an Afro-Ameri- 
can who kindly read the proofs of this book. 

The Anglo-American said: "I fear Northern men 
will think you are pretty hard on the Negro. We 
remember that his blood crimsoned our battle fields. 
While many of us think it was a mistake to give him 
the ballot, we are not ready to disfranchise him, and 
many will say, 'Bishop Brown would have done better 
to let that alone.' But I suppose you are speaking 
to Dixie galleries, chiefly." 



Preface xxvii 

The Afro-American said : "The Negroes all say that 
their worst enemy is not the Southerner, but the 
'Southernized Northerner' who tries to 'curry favor' 
with the South by attacking the Negro. They take 
what Tillman and Davis and Vardaman and their kind 
say with a big pinch of salt, for it is regarded as so 
much political ammunition ; but from a Bishop of the 
Church who has nothing personal to gain, they regard 
the same talk as cursed prejudice, intended to make 
him solid with his constituency." 

I am writing the last paragraphs of a long Preface 
to a long essay, both much longer than I originally 
intended them to be. I believe that the patient, candid 
reader of the essay will agree with me that in it I have 
answered every objection that has been raised against 
the Arkansas Plan, and I boldly assert that I have no 
fear of any critic, White or Black, North or South, who 
may attack that plan ; for I am fully persuaded that it 
is founded securely upon the rock of everlasting truth, 
and its superstructure is built up of eternal verities. 
But this personal criticism of its author I cannot 
answer, for the simple reason that such criticisms are 
unanswerable. 

A suspicion of motive is like a question of author- 
ship. When once it has been raised there is no 
evidence that can be produced which will be suffi- 
cient to answer its calumny, if calumny it be. I am not 
only a "Southernized Northerner," but also a convert 
to the Anglo-American Church. Twelve years ago 
while I was the Archdeacon of Ohio, I published a 
statement of the claims of that Church and a defense 
of them. The book was entitled "The Church for 



xxviii The Crucial Eace Question 

Americans." It ran rapidly through several editions 
and resulted in my election to the Episcopate. Then 
someone who did not estimate my abilities very highly, 
started the rumor that Archdeacon Brown had 
neither the brains nor the education which would 
enable him to write such a book, and chat 
a certain Professor, famous for both brains and 
education, who read its proofs, was the real author. 
I have reason to know that there are some people 
who will go to their graves believing that if the Pro- 
fessor did not write all of the book, yet its most notable 
chapters and passages must be attributed to him. 
Now he might have written a good many passages in 
that book without justifying the sweeping rumor con- 
cerning his part in its authorship, but as a matter of 
actual fact it so happens that he did not write or 
dictate, or otherwise compose so much as a single line 
of it. However, if the Professor can stand it, and if 
Shakespeare can endure the crediting of his works to 
Bacon without turning in his grave, I do not see why 
I should "lie awake nights" over it. I should consider 
it hardly worth the while to mention this rumor con- 
cerning my first book in the Preface to the second, 
but for the fact that it aptly illustrates the injustice to 
which an author is so easily liable and gives me an 
opportunity to do something in the way of correcting 
a misrepresentation which reflects unfavorably upon 
the talents of my gifted literary adviser and the integ- 
rity of both him and me. 

No, I cannot answer this criticism about talking 
"cursed prejudice" to "Dixie galleries." It is a judg- 
ment of me. and such accusations can neither be 



Pkeface xxix 

proved by those who make them, nor disproved by 
the accused. Both parties and all concerned in such 
judgments must, in the nature of things, await that 
great day of accounting, when such matters will be 
revealed even as they are known by Him who knoweth 
all things. 

I wish that it might be believed that in the advocacy 
of an Autonomous Episcopate I represent convictions 
touching the good of all parties and interests concerned 
and have reference to the truth respecting the ques- 
tions involved as I understand it. That, in all I am 
saying and writing about the necessity, of ecclesiastical 
Color-Line drawing, and of a racial Episcopate for 
Afro-American Churchmen, I have had no concern 
about the opinions of my adopted people, I cannot and 
do not claim. But to the accusation that I have 
wounded Colored People in order to win "the applause 
of Dixie galleries," I plead, "not guilty." And 
whether or not this plea be received by those who set 
themselves up as my judges in matters which apper- 
tain alone to the court of a man's conscience, I trust 
that the facts and arguments which I present in 
support of my representations and recommendations 
will nevertheless receive due consideration. 

It is a recognized principle that an official act is not 
invalidated by the unworthiness of the officer who 
performs it and, though, undoubtedly, the excellency 
of a good sermon is enhanced and its influence in both 
extent and degree is increased by the character of 
the preacher, yet all must and do agree that no fault 
of the man in the pulpit can excuse the man in the pew 
from the observance of the gospel precepts of a good 



xxx The Crucial Race Question 

sermon. I plead for the recognition of this principle 
on the part of the readers of this essay who have any 
misgivings concerning the purity of my motives. 

I claim then, that, unless my arguments can be 
answered, I should" have the benefit of the doubt 
respecting my motives, and that both my Northern 
and Negro friends and enemies should tentatively, 
at least believe that if, like the surgeon, I have caused 
pain in performing the operation, it was with the 
surgeon's hope that thereby I might bring to the 
suffering patient permanent relief and certain cure, 
and that such a worthy hope is my sole purpose in 
sending this book upon its mission to the world. 

How gladly would I omit every word that is 
likely to give pain to any Afro-American who 
may read it. There are many such words, espec- 
ially in the passages which relate to the sub- 
jects of Negro degeneration and Color-Line draw- 
ing. I should rejoice if I conscientiously could 
eliminate all of them, but an imperative sense of duty 
to the persons and interests concerned, makes it 
impossible for me to omit more than I have done ; and 
so I am going into print in sadness and heaviness of 
heart and with an earnest prayer to God, who is the 
Father of all mankind and no respector of persons or 
races, that He in His tender mercy will prevent the 
unwelcome truths to which I am obliged to give 
expression, from breaking the bruised reed of holy 
hope in the heart of any one among His dear afflicted 
colored children. 

The Author. 

Urownella Cottage 

Holy Cross Day, 1907. 



The Crucial Race Question 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE I 

Answers to Adverse Criticisms — Introductory 

CHAPTER I. 

Pages 

A PICNIC PARTY THAT REQUIRED TWO SHADE 
TREES, OR THE CHIEF OBJECTION OF NEGROES 
AND NORTHERN WHITE PEOPLE TO THE 
ARKANSAS PLAN i- 14 

I. Some Contend that Race Distinctions in the Church are 
Irreconcilable with the Law of Christian Charity — Letter of a 
Northern Lady Protesting Against Color-Line Drawing in 
the Church — Letter of a Boston Rector Protesting Against 
Disfranchisement of the Colored Clergy and Laity — A 
Northern Dinner Party at Which the Arkansas Plan was 
Thoroughly Discussed. II. The Attack of a Northern Lady 
upon the Arkansas Plan and Her Narrative of the Picnic 
Tarty With Two Shade Trees — The Strong Defense of a 
Southernized Northerner in Justification of the Arkansas 
Plan and the Picnic Incident. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE ADVERSE CRITICISMS OF STATISTICIANS 
STATED AND ANSWERED 15- 54 

I. Letter of an Anglo-American Protesting Against the Charge 
of Negro Degeneration and Demanding Statistical Proof. II. 
The Degeneration of a People a Matter of Experimental 
Conviction Rather Than Statistical Tabulation — Another 
Letter of Statistical Protest from Archdeacon McGuire — A 
Third Letter of Sfmilar Import from Professor Tunnell. III. 
The Moral and Physical Degeneration of the Negro Supported 
by Expert Statisticians — Professor Smith Quoted. IV. 
Professor Wilcox Quoted — Testimony of Hon. E. J. Bowers 
V. Other Reliable Witnesses — In View of Such Support 
the Author Maintains His Charge of the General Degeneration 
of the American Negro. 



xxxii The Crucial Race Question 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ADVERSE CRITICISM OF AN ANGLO-AMERI- 
CAN PRIEST STATED AND ANSWERED 55- 66 

I. Negro Episcopate Opposed Because of Moral and Intellectual 
Deficiencies — White Leadership Necessary for Negro Church- 
men — Negro Bishops Might Become "Upstarts." II. The 
Author Admits Possible Deficiencies of a Negro Episcopate^— 
But Points to the Excellent Records of Bishops Ferguson 
and Holly — He Objects to Social "Mix-ups" in the Church — 
And Strikes a Blow at Impure White Leadership. 

CHAPTER IV. 



THE ADVERSE CRITICISMS OF THE CHURCH 

PAPERS STATED AND ANSWERED 66-90 

I. Prefatory Statement — An Analytic and Comprehensive Reply 
to the Editor of the Churchman Who Advocates the Policy of 
"Let-Well-Enough-Alone." II. A Thorough Dissection of the 
Editorials of the Church Standard Advocating Negro 
Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions. III. An Effective 
Answer to the Editor of The Living Church Who Advocates 
Suffragan Bishops. 



LECTURE II 

The Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 

CHAPTER V. 

"AUNT SUSANNA," OR THE DOMESTIC COLOR- 
LINE 93" 98 

My First Lesson In the American Race Problem — "Aunt 
Susanna" — Existence of the Domestic Color-Line — The Bridg- 
ing of the Gulf Between the Races Requires the Drawing and 
Recognition of the Color-Line — Convictions from My First Les- 
son Resulted in the Six Fundamental Propositions Which Form 
the Thesis of this Book — Also in the Creation of a Diocesan 
Convocation for Colored Congregations and Their Ministers 
Excluding Them from the Diocesan Council — One Purpose 
of this Book is to Advocate the Imitation of the Arkansas 
Plan by the General Church — The Affectionate Interest of 
Southern Whites in the Old Type of Negro — Change of 
Feeling Due to the Degeneration of the New Type of Negro 
and His Disregard of the Color-Line — The Root of our Race 
Difficulty Pointed Out — How the Problem May be Solved. 



Contents xxxiii 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SOCIAL COLOR-LINE 99-110 

I. The Social Color-Line Has Practically Been Always Drawn 
Both North and South — The Utterance of Wendell Phillips on 
) Amalgamation — President Eliot of Harvard and Bishop 
Lawrence of Massachusetts on Color-Line Drawing — How 
Boston Treated Our Negro Bishop of West Africa — The Color- 
Line in New York. II. The Theory of Booker Washington 
for the Extinction of the Color-Line — Failure of all the Plans 
Advocated — The Bitter Opposition of the Anglo-Saxon to 
Intermarriage of the Races — Evil Effects of Miscegenation as 
shown by Professors Smith and Winchell and Other 
Reputable Authorities. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE POLITICAL COLOR-LINE m-138 

I. The Negro Being Eliminated Gradually from tne Political 
Field — Elimination Must be Made Complete by the Repeal of the 
Fifteenth Amendment — Politics a Snare to the Negro — The 
Plausible Error of Northern Democrats and Booker Wash- 
ington — They Hold Out to the Negro Membership in the 
Body Politic — The Ruinous Error of the Republicans and 
Professor DuRois— They Preach the Political Equality of the 
Negro — The Republican Party Cannot Fulfill the Pledges of 
the Fifteenth Amendment — A Shattering of the Claim that 
the Fifteenth Amendment is the Negro's Magna Charta — The 
Negro Must Withdraw from Politics or Perish — Should Give 
His Attention to the Industrial Field — Trouble Ahead for 
Both Races if the Fifteenth Amendment is not Repealed. II. 
Ne£d of a Negro Moses With New and Racial Ideals — 
Washington and DuBois Have False Ideals — Universal 
Suffrage not Necessary to the Existence of the Republic — 
Political and Social Equality Inseparable — Miscegenation in 
Progress Where the Fifteenth Amendment Is Recognized — 
Criticism of Northern Gentlemen Upon This Chapter Stated 
and Answered. 



LECTURE III 

The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LITTLE BLACK CORA AND HER BIG WHITE DOLL, 

OR THE NECESSITY OF NEGRO BISHOPS 141-143 

My Second Lesson in the Great American Race Problem — Little 
Black Cora — Deciding the Question of the Color of a 
Christmas Doll for Cora — The Bearing of this Incident Upon 
the Question of Racial Bishops — Race Pride will be fostered by 
Negro Bishops. 



xxxh The Crucial Race Question 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ARKANSAS PLAN 145-156 

I. Self-Government Necessary to Racial Development — Ameri- 
can Negro Must Strike Out for Himself — The Ecclesiastical 
Field the Only One Left Him for Self-Government — Religious 
Color-Line is Practically Drawn in the Anglo-American 
Church — The Arkansas Plan Presents the Most Complete 
Drawing of this Line — Threatened Exclusion of Bishop and 
Diocesan Delegation of Arkansas from the General Conven- 
tion—The Action of Arkansas not Unconstitutional — Preamble 
and Resolutions of Conference of Church Workers Among 
Colored People Protesting Against the Action of Arkansas — 
Change of Sentiment Among Leading Colored Churchmen 
Towards the Arkansas Work — The Arkansas Plan Meets the 
Tendency of Negroes Towards Ecclesiastical Autonomy — 
Racial Workers Needed to Carry out God's Designs— This 
Basic Truth Supported by Bishop Penick. II. The Arkansas 
Plan Not a Denial of the Catholicity of the Church, Universal 
Fatherhood nor Human Brotherhood. 

CHAPTER X. 

AN AFRO-AMERICAN MISSIONARY EPISCOPATE 
WITH REPRESENTATION IN THE GENERAL CON- 
VENTION 157-169 

I. In Civil Affairs the Negro Must be Governed by the White 
Man ; in Ecclesiastical Affairs He Must Govern Himself — The 
Political Realm of the Church Rather than of the State His 
Proper Field — 'Missionary Jurisdictions with Representation 
in the General Convention will not Bring Self-government 
to the Afro-American Churchman — Will Result in His Defeat 
—An Autonomous Church Alone Will Afford Opportunity 
for Self-government — The American Church Would Give 
Support to Such a Church. II. Less Than Four Negro 
Bishops Would be Deplorable. III. Negro Churchmen do 
not Desire to Force Themselves into the Churches and 
Assemblies of White Churchmen— Some Settled Facts Con- 
cerning Color-Line Drawing in the South. 

CHAPTER XL 

RESULTS OF THE ARKANSAS PLAN 171-182 

I. How the Missionary Work Among the Colored People of 
Arkansas was Hindered by Representation in the Diocesan Coun- 
cil—Results of the Work Under the Separation Plan — A Great 
Door now Open for the Successful Accomplishment of this 
Work — Bishop Pierce's Troubles Under the Old Plan. II. 
What Autonomous Racial Churches have Done Among Negroes 
— Similar Results Would have been Accomplished had the 
First Negro Priest been Consecrated a Bishop to Organize 
An Independent Church for His Race — History and Statistics 
of Independent Negro Methodism and Presbyterianism — The 
Success of these Churches is Due to the Fact that they are 
Governed by the Negro for the Negro — A Strong Argument 
for the Adoption of the Arkansas Plan. 



Contents xxxv 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE FAILURE OF THE WHITE MINISTRY AMONG 

COLORED PEOPLE 183-191 

I. Certain Bishops Advocate a White Ministry or White 
Supervision for the Colored Work — Church Work Among 
Negroes Before the War — Falling off After the War — How Ac- 
counted for — A Comparison of Work done Among the Negroes 
in South Carolina and Arkansas Under a White and Colored 
Archdeacon Respectively — The Colored Work in Georgia During 
the Last Ten Years has not Justified the Claims of its Bishop 
that White Supervision Insures Success. II. No White Bishop 
has been Successful as a Leader Among Negroes — With the 
Limited Resources at Hand Results In Arkansas Justify 
Racial Management of the Work — The Glorious Record of the 
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church Could be Reproduced 
by an Afro-American Episcopal Church. 



LECTURE IV 

Objections to the Arkansas Plan 

CHAPTER XIII. 

WHY THIS NEGRO WENT FROM THE SUNNY 

SOUTH TO THE WINDY CITY, OR THE NEED OF 

AN AFRO-AMERICAN MOSES I95-W 

Negroes Go North with the Idea of Marrying White Women — 
Story of One Such Negro as Told by an Arkansas Clergyman — 
This Idea Encouraged by all Teachers of Political and Ecclesias- 
tical Equality — The Only Remedy and True Ideal for the 
Negro are Racial Pride, Industry and Righteousness. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE CATHOLIC'S OBJECTION TO THE ARKANSAS 

PLAN 199-225 

I. The Overlapping of Episcopal Jurisdictions Fully Discussed — 
Some Modern Overlappings — flow the Apostles Adjusted the 
First Racial Question in the Church — Importance of the Apos- 
tolic Diaconate — The Bishop of West Texas on the Overlapping 
of the Jurisdictions of St. Peter and St. Paul. II. Even in Sub- 
Apostolic Times There Were Such Overlappings — The Earliest 
Episcopates Were Dual to Meet Racial Needs — The Apostles 
Themselves Could not have Avoided Overlapping of Authority. 
III. Example of Overlapping of Authority in the British 
Church — In Northern and Western Europe — In the Orthodox 



xxxvi The Crucial Race Question 



Greek Church in America — In the Roman Catholic Church in 
the United States — Overlapping Almost Universal in the 
British Empire and United States — The Tendency Through- 
out the Catholic Episcopate to Overlapping. IV. Necessity 
for Racial Episcopates — The Cramped Condition of the 
Anglican Episcopate — The Extension of This Episcopate to 
Jews, Negroes and all Bodies of Christian People Advocated. 
V. A Pan-American Conference of Apostolic Bishops Also 
Advocated — Bishop Whittingham's Advocacy of a Racial 
Episcopate for Negroes. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE IDEALIST'S OBJECTION TO THE ARKANSAS 

PLAN 227-238 

I. Non-representation in Ecclesiastical Legislative Bodies not 
Necessarily Severance from the Catholic Church — The Catholic 
Creed Supplies the True Basis of Church Unity — Idealism in 
How Far Useful — Traditionalism Hedges in the Episcopal 
Church — "Situation" versus "Idea" — Diocesan Episcopacy not 
of Perpetual Obligation — Expediency Points to a Modification 
of the Diocesan Episcopacy. II. More Practicalism and 
Less Idealism Needed in Dealing With the Problems Con- 
fronting the Church — Negroes have Never had any Practical 
Membership in the Diocesan and General Councils of the 
Church. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SOUTHERNER'S OBJECTION TO THE ARKAN- 
SAS PLAN 239-244 

Objection Based Upon the Alleged Failure of the Two Negro 
Bishops of the Church — The Allegation not Supported by the 
Facts in the Case — Bishop Ferguson's Work Considered a 
Success by Competent Judges — Difficulties of the Haytian 
Field Reviewed — Bfshop Holly Has Achieved Better Results 
than Any White Bishop Could Have Done — Results Compare 
Favorably With Those in Other Missions in Roman Catholic 
Countries. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE ARCHDEACON'S LOOKING GLASS, OR THE 

CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER 245-249 

A Significant Occurence at the 1906 Session of the Council 
of the Diocese of Arkansas — Ax-chdeacon McGuire's Report 
and Address — The Ovation Which Followed — The Appoint- 
ment of a Colored Archdeacon and Presentation of Him to 
the Council a Bold Step — The Ovation Accounted For — A 
Highly Dramatic Scene — The Adoption of the Arkansas Plan 
Throughout the Church Would Result in the Same Wonderful 
Change. 



The Crucial Race Question 



LECTURE I 

Answers to Adverse Criticisms 
INTRODUCTORY 

CHAPTER I. A Picnic Party That Required Two Shade Trees, or 
the Chief Objection of Negroes and Northern Wliite 
People to the Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER II. The Adverse Criticisms of Statisticians Stated and 
Answered. 

"HAPTER III. The Adverse Criticism of an Anglo-American 
Priest Stated and Answered. 

CHAPTER IV. The Adverse Criticisms of the Church Papers Stated 
and Answered. 



PREFATORY 



Knowing that my essay in defense and commendation of the 
Arkansas Plan and Memorial would not at first be favorably 
received by many people of both races concerned, and recognizing 
the truth of the proverb, "In the multitude of counsellors there 
is wisdom," I requested some among the most competent Anglo- 
American and Afro-American Churchmen in my circle of 
acquaintances to read its galley proofs and to give me the benefit 
of frank criticism. As several among those who kindly com- 
plied with this request were Northerners and Negroes I need 
hardly say that I got what I wanted in "good measure, pressed 
down and running over." The adverse criticisms which, for 
obvious reasons I was especially glad to receive were many, but, 
they gathered around a few storm centers. I have concluded that 
the best introduction that I can give to my essay is the most 
notable of these criticisms with my answers. Two have been 
selected and they will constitute as many sections of this Intro- 
ductory Lecture. To them will be added a chapter in which 
I state and answer the objections which the Editors of the 
Church papers have advanced against the Arkansas Plan and 
Memorial. 

It is believed that the use of these criticisms and replies as 
an introductory lecture, not only has whatever of advantage 
there is in novelty, but that it will open up the whole subject 
of the essay and also create interest in it, thus accomplishing 
the purposes of an introduction to an unusual degree. 

Each one of the four lectures which constitute the body of 
this essay is introduced by an anecdotal narrative. It is believed 
that these will add much to the interest in, and understanding 
of the Lectures to which they respectively belong, and to the 
book as a whole. The story of the "Picnic Party" is introduced 
as Chapter I, not only because its controversial character har- 
monizes with the other Chapters of Lecture I, but because its 
subject, "Religious Color-Line Drawing," is the key-note of the 
whole book. 



CHAPTER I 

A Picnic Party That Required Two Shade Trees, or the 
Chief Objection of Negroes and Northern White 
People to the Arkansas Plan. 



The majority among those who object to the 
adoption of the Arkansas Plan of solving the Great 
American Race Problem, so far as the Episcopal 
Church is concerned, do so upon the ground that the 
making of race distinctions in the Church of Christ is 
irreconcilable with the great law of Christian Charity. 
This is the chief objection of the Colored People them- 
selves and it is strongly urged by a great many 
highly exemplary Northern Christians and philan- 
thropists. When we drew the Color-Line between the 
work of the Church among Negroes and Caucasians in 
Arkansas, many of our Missionary Benefactors fell 
away from us and one of the best Christian women in 
the world, who had been giving me $10.00 for each 
Church that I could build, wrote me a letter which I 
quote here because it so well expresses the outraged 
feelings of many lovely, philanthropic Northern 
people at every step that is taken in the way of draw- 
ing the Color-Line about the Church : 



The Crucial Race Question 



-Riverside Avenue, New York City. 



''Mrs. regrets that she is unable to con- 
tinue by contributions to express sympathy with the 
Diocese of Arkansas, in consequence of the 'unjust, 

uncatholic,' and Mrs. considers, 'unchristian,' 

procedure of the Diocese, in excluding from its Con- 
vention, the Colored Clergy and Laity, entitled by 

ecclesiastical right to entrance there. Mrs. 

cannot refrain from declaring her 'unqualified con- 
demnation' also of an act, which all the friends and 
well-wishers of the Diocese of Arkansas, she feels 
assured, must greatly deplore. 

"October 3rd, 1903." 

And, the popular Rector of one of the greatest among 
our Boston Parishes, in withdrawing an appointment 
which I had with him for the making of an appeal on 
behalf of our Missionary work, wrote me in this equally 
representative strain : 

"I am not aware that I have any prejudice against 
the Diocese of Arkansas, nor am I expressing any 
opinion in regard to a separate Convocation or Con- 
vention for the Colored Church people as a means to 
an end. 

"What I am protesting against is that a Convention 
of the Clergy and Laity of our Church should refuse 
our Colored Brethren an equal share in the govern- 
ment of the Church. I do this not because I wish to 
interfere in the affairs of the Diocese of Arkansas, 
which would be a great impertinence on my part, but 
because I believe their action is a part of a great 
scheme for the practical re-enslavement of the colored 
population. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 5 

"The only hope, it seems to me, for the betterment 
of the condition of those unhappy people, is to give 
them the same rights the whites have; make the 
franchise in State and Church dependent upon char- 
acter or intelligence or property, or whatever other 
basis may seem the best, but apply it equally to whites 
and blacks. 

"I believe this twentieth century is destined to see 
a reversion to the Bourbonism overthrown by the 
French Revolution, both in Church and State, or else 
an enlargement of the Christian spirit which makes 
no difference between strong and weak nations, 
between black and white. 

"It is on that great principle that I take my stand, 
and feel that it is impossible for me to co-operate with 
any man who feels it is his duty to oppose it. 

"I beg you will believe that for you personally and 
for your work, I have a sincere interest." 

Now the writers of these letters are, in respect to 
their opinion on Color-Line drawing, most representa- 
tive Northern people and they are people who chal- 
lenge the respect of the world on account of all that 
goes to make up a Christian and an American of the 
highest type. They strenuously object to the drawing 
of the Color-Line in State or Church, especially in 
Church, because of a profound conviction that it is 
both un-American and un-Christian. And these people 
must be reckoned with and squarely faced in this 
defense of the Arkansas Plan. In making the neces- 
sary effort to convince them that the ground they 
occupy is untenable, I know of no better course to 



6 The Crucial Race Question 

pursue than to relate an interesting- dialogue which 
recently took place at a Northern dinner party. 

It was an ideal dinner, because it not only met the 
requirements of those who "live to eat," but also of 
those who "eat to live" and was, therefore, quite as 
much of an intellectual as of a physical feast. After 
the usual pleasantries and common-places, conversa- 
tion began to run into more serious channels, and 
finally concentrated in an animated discussion of the 
Appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Bishops and 
Missionary Jurisdictions of their own and the Arkansas 
Plan of answering that Appeal. The chief debaters 
were a highly endowed and cultured Northern lady 
and a "Southernized Northerner." Passing over 
the comparatively unimportant observations of those 
who were listeners rather than participants in 
this part of the conversation, I shall relate in two 
sections the substance of their prolonged and animated 
dialogue, though I shall also embody the more import- 
ant of the observations made by the others who now 
and then were extended the courtesy of the floor. 



II 



i. The Northern Lady to the " South ernized North- 
erner:" ; 'The Northerners among us are greatly inter- 
ested as to the opinions of you Southerners about the 
way in which the Episcopal Church can accomplish 
most for the Colored people of the South and of the 
country generally. I say 'generally' because, even in 
this little suburb of the metropolis, we have something 
of the 'Race Problem' and there is a great deal of it in 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 7 

the city. We understand that you Southern Church- 
men recommend the drawing of the Color-Line in the 
Church by the creation of Negro Bishops and Juris- 
dictions that will have no representation in your 
Diocesan Conventions and that you base this recom- 
mendation upon the contention that, if the Church is 
to make any progress in the South, there must be a 
complete separation of white and colored Churchmen 
into separate and distinct ecclesiastical organizations, 
as independent the one from the other as are the vari- 
ous branches of the Anglican communion. Now what 
we Northerners are very desirous of knowing is how 
you as a Christian and a Southern gentleman can 
justify such a proposition ; and, in order that the most 
may be made of this opportunity for our enlighten- 
ment by a 'real live Southerner/ we want to avoid gen- 
eralities by giving you what we regard as a hard nut 
to crack. You see we have talked the matter all over 
among ourselves and planned for this occasion. Now 
this is the nut that we would like to have you crack for 
us : 

"A Negro Professor of a Theological Seminary for 
the education of Colored Students for our Ministry 
recently made an appeal in our Church for funds 
for the institution of which he was, in our esti- 
mation, a most worthy representative. During his 
sojourn in the metropolis and its neighborhood 
he was the guest in the lovely home of one 
of our most cultured families and much general 
interest was centered in him. He was exceed- 
ingly well-bred, and as he seemed to be very happy 



8 The Crucial Race Question 

among us we induced him to prolong his stay a few 
days beyond the time of his anticipated departure. 
Upon one occasion, towards the close of his memorable 
visit, he touched us to tears by a pathetic narrative 
in which he contrasted the difference in the treatment 
which he was receiving from us, with that which upon 
his return to the Seminary he would receive from his 
fellow Professors who were white men, he being the 
only colored man on the faculty. We drew him out 
along this line and one of several sad experiences 
which he related particularly excited our sympathy 
for him and resentment towards his white colleagues, 

" 'I accepted,' he said, 'my professorship because it 
was urged upon me by the white members of the 
faculty. Under such circumstances, I thought, and 
I believe you will agree with me, that I was entitled to 
receive the treatment of a social equal. But not only 
was I never invited to dine at the home of the Dean or 
of any of my fellow Professors but, upon the occasion 
of a Seminar}'- picnic they went off by themselves and 
ate their luncheon under one shade tree, while I was 
left to eat mine with the Colored students under 
another tree.' 

"Now, we always have heard a great deal about the 
urbanity of the typical Southern gentleman and, there- 
fore, this treatment of our interesting guest who cer- 
tainly was a cultured gentleman is inexplicable to us. 
We often have talked the matter over and always have 
reached the conclusion that, of all persons, Southern 
gentlemen who are professors in a theological faculty 
should have exhibited in their treatment of their 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 9 

Colored colleague the fairest fruits of Christian cour- 
tesy ; and yet, from our point of view, and we cannot 
understand how it can be looked at in any other way, 
the white colleagues of our colored friend were most 
outrageously rude to him. We would like to hear 
your justification of this instance of Color-Line draw- 
ing. Perhaps I should confess frankly, beforehand, 
that it appears to us as being so highly reprehensible 
that we really have no idea that you will be able to 
relieve it of the ungentlemanly and unchristian char- 
acter which we have attributed to it. Nevertheless 
we shall try to be open to conviction and, if you can 
convince us that their conduct was justifiable, you will 
at the same time persuade us that the Color-Line 
should be drawn through the Church in accordance 
with your recommendation." 

2. The '' 'South cruized Northerner' to the Northern 
Lady: "You certainly have stated the case against 
Color-Line drawing strongly, and undoubtedly there is 
a deep pathos connected with the situation of your 
Negro guest and friend. In such frank, 'heart to heart' 
conversations as the one in which we are engaged, you 
will find Southern people as ready to confess as you 
are to recognize the hard, sad lot of the Colored people 
of this country. Speaking for myself, and I know 
that I represent a large class of my countrymen, their 
present condition and future prospects are so pitiable 
and pathetic as to excite in me a deeper commiseration 
than is felt for any other people in the whole history 
of mankind. The lot of the Afro-American appears to 
me to be, indeed, most unfortunate. 



10 The Crucial Race Question 

"The position of the Negro in this country is anal- 
ogous with that of the Israelite in Egypt; but in the 
matter of outlook or destiny it is much worse and 
comparatively intolerable. The Israelite had the real- 
ization of a great and inspiring promise for which to 
live. Moreover they must have seen and felt that they 
were the superior race. But in the case of the poor 
American Negro all this is reversed. Those of his 
race who have eyes to see must perceive that without 
some wonderful change this country is for them, as a 
people, 'the Valley of the Shadow of Death' and that 
there is not for them any way or hope of escape as 
there was for the Israelites while in Egypt. And the 
most hopeless feature of the whole situation, as I, and 
Southerners generally, see it, is that very lack of 'race 
pride' exhibited by your friend, the Colored Professor, 
in his complaint against his white colleagues. 

"Is there any record in the sacred narrative of a 
complaint on the part of the Jews because the 
Egyptians did not invite them to their tables? Joseph 
and Moses were members of the Cabinet of the King 
of Egypt and their relationship to the Egyptian mem- 
bers of that Cabinet was, no doubt, such as to give them 
as much right to a place at their tables as was that of 
the Colored Professor to those of his white colleagues. 
But Joseph and Moses in their respectively widely sep- 
arated generations received exactly the same treatment 
from their official associates in the Egyptian govern- 
ment that the Professor received from his official asso- 
ciates in the Theological Seminary. Now, though the 
Israelo-Egyptian Princes received essentially the same 
treatment as the Afro-American Professor, there was 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 11 

a most notable and significant difference between them, 
they did not complain; he did! The reason why the 
Jewish dignitaries did not complain, while the Negro 
dignitary did, is found in the most important fact that 
they did, while he does not, possess 'race pride.' It is 
this fundamental difference, this vital lack in the 
American Negro which constitutes by far the greater 
part of our Race Problem. 

"What a fortunate thing for the Jewish people in 
particular and for the world at large that, so to speak, 
Joseph and Moses notwithstanding their exalted offi- 
cial positions could not if they would, and would not if 
they could, have sat under the same shade tree with 
their official comfpanions on a picnic occasion. For if 
those Jewish Princes had been like the Negro Pro- 
fessor, there would have been no going out from 
Egypt, no wandering in the wilderness, no conquest 
of Canaan, no David, no Solomon, no Temple, in fact, 
there would have been no way prepared for Christi- 
anity and so there might have been, up to this time, no 
Jesus and no Christian Civilization. 

"Do you not see that if the Afro-American is ever 
to amount to anything he must, like the Israelo- 
Egyptian have his own vine and fig-tree under 
which he will prefer to eat his luncheon by himself? 
Anglo-Americans prefer to be by themselves. Why is 
not this true of Afro-Americans? This is the 'nut* 
{ which I give you Northerners to crack. 

"It is necessary to the continued development of the 
Anglo-American that he should keep himself aloof 
socially from the Afro-American by going apart to his 
own shade tree- at meal time. For the table always has 



I 



12 The Crucial Eace Question 

been, is now, and probably always will be the chief 
gate-way to the garden of our social Eden. There 
probably is something in the nature of things which 
makes this so. If, therefore, Southern people were to 
follow your example in the matter of entertaining 
Negroes it would not be long until the black race 
would be absorbed and the white race ruined as the 
result of intermarriage, and so God's plan in the 
creation of the two races, so far as America is con- 
cerned, would be defeated. I contend therefore that 
the White associates of the Colored Professor did 
right in eating their luncheon under a separate shade- 
tree, and that Southerners in so far as they draw the 
social Color-Line do a great service to both God and 
man. 

"Human nature was made by God, the Father, and 
the Gospel was revealed by God, the Son. They must 
therefore be in line. Now, if we judge of the conduct 
of the White Professors by arranging it between 
these two divine standards it will appear that very 
little, if any, fault can be found with it. Of course, 
you will not allow me to forget that the devil has a 
good deal to do with human nature, but I must con- 
tend that, inasmuch as God made yellow, black and 
white people, instead of only black or yellow, or white 
when He could have made all any one of these colors, 
it must be concluded that He had some great purpose 
to accomplish in doing so. 

Hence, the amalgamation of the races, or the aping 
of one by the other, must be wrong because it thwarts 
God's plan. In order to prevent such a thing God has 
planted in human nature a race pride or prejudice. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 13 

This innate antipathy which, as everybody knows, is 
growing stronger in the South and spreading in the 
North, forever will keep the races apart socially, polit- 
ically and even ecclesiastically. This is as we believe 
it should be and such being the case, it is right that 
the Color-Line should be drawn rigidly about the 
table; for as we have said, if a representative of one 
race admits one of another to his table, he opens a wide 
door to social equality, and the thwarting by inter- 
marriage, of God's plan in the creation of different 
races. 

"I must with deep humiliation confess that the 
Mulatto population of the South, constituting one- 
sixteenth of the Negro race of this country, bears 
undeniable witness to the sad fact that Southern men 
do not always practice what they preach in the matter 
of Color-Line drawing. But, while this is most 
unhappily and deplorably true of the bad among 
Southern men, I am so glad that it is almost equally 
true of Northerners that they do not practice what 
they preach about disregarding the Color-Line. 

"In the course of this conversation I was asked an 
important question which I must not fail to answer 
before yielding the floor. That question, with its pre- 
amble, was put as follows : 'You Southerners believe 
that political and social equality are necessarily and 
inseparably connected, but was there any more of 
social equality in the Reconstruction Period when the 
Negro freely exercised the right of Suffrage than there 
has been since?' I reply, no. But, I ask, why? Was 
it not because the period was too short and stormy? 
It certainly was not because of any repugnance of the 



14 The Crucial Race Question 

Negro to social equality; for it was that very period 
which dates the beginning of that horrible, nameless 
social crime which cannot be satisfactorily explained 
upon any other hypothesis than that of a most insa- 
tiable desire for the forbidden fruit of social equality, 
and a desperate determination to partake of it at any 
cost. 

"With all Aryan peoples, race prejudice is exception- 
ally strong. It always has been and it ever will be 'a 
flaming, turning sword' at the domestic, political and 
ecclesiastical gates to our garden of Eden. Owing to 
the peculiar circumstances, when, in this country, the 
Negro approaches any one of these entrances this 
sword always will defend it with unwonted vigor. 

"In view of this relentless race prejudice and jeal- 
ousy, good statesmanship and sound philanthropy 
require that the Negro should not even be encouraged 
to hope for a part in the government of the United 
States, or in any of our White Churches. Every time 
that the hope of political or ecclesiastical equality is 
held out upon any condition whatsoever the work of 
settling our Race Problem is retarded, and rendered 
more difficult." 



CHAPTER II 

The Adverse Criticisms of Statisticians Stated and 

Answered. 

I 

" Aug. 7, 1907. 

"The Right Rev. W. M. Brown, D. D., Bishop of Ark. 

"Right Rev. and Dear Sir: — I acknowledge the 
receipt of the prospectus of your forthcoming book — 
"The Crucial Race Question." You have also honored 
me by sending me the advance sheets of the book, and 
by asking me to express frankly my opinion of the 
merits of the book. I have carefully read the book, and 
I frankly confess that my opinion is not entirely favor- 
able. That you are sincere in all that you say, no one 
who knows you, will for a moment doubt. That you 
have expended a great amount of labor on the book, 
will be evident to all who read it. But that all your 
positions are tenable, is by no means clear. 

"A distinction should be made between the main 
thesis of your book and the arguments by which you 
support that thesis. The thesis is that the Negro com- 
municants of the Church should be set off in an 
autonomous Church with their own Bishops. Whether 
this should be done, or whether missionary Bishops 
should be given to Negro Churchmen, or whether their 



16 The Crucial Eace Question 

request for Negro Bishops should be denied, are ques- 
tions with which I am not now concerned. The argu- 
ments by which you support your thesis, are, among 
others, those which, in the prospectus, you call "the 
five assumptions" of the book. I especially ask you to 
attend to the third of these assumptions. As stated by 
you, it is as follows : 'Under present conditions the 
American Negro is degenerating instead of advancing 
towards civilization.' A book is not, as a newspaper 
article, or as this letter, hastily written ; but it is care- 
fully composed, and every statement, especially such 
an important statement as the foregoing, is closely 
scrutinized by the author. The supposition then is, 
that the above 'assumption' is not a rhetorical exagger- 
ation designed to arrest attention, but the exact expres- 
sion of your views of the present condition of the 
American Negro. 

"May I ask you to notice what is exactly the import 
of your statement? You do not say that the American 
Negroes have not made the progress which their 
friends expected them to make. Nor do you say that 
there are many, perhaps very many, bad Negroes in 
this country. Nor again do you say that they have, 
as a race, degenerated in some respects and not in 
others. But you make the general, unqualified state- 
ment that 'under present conditions the American 
Negro is degenerating instead of advancing towards 
civilization.' Permit me to remind you that such a 
statement implies on your part wide and accurate 
knowledge of the economic and moral condition of all 
the Negroes of this country. And permit me also to 
express astonishment that in your book you have not 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 17 

supported the statement by any statistics. You have 
said repeatedly that in your opinion not more than 
one-tenth of the Negroes belong to what you call 'the 
Elect' and 'the remnant/ But you owe it to your 
readers to tell us how you know this. Have you 
merely guessed it? I understand that you rely on your 
knowledge of Arkansas, and have assumed that Arkan- 
sas is, in this respect, typical of other Southern States. 
But how do you know this? And besides, you have 
given us no statistics of Arkansas, and how can your 
readers know that your estimate is correct? Are nine- 
tenths of your Negro people lazy' and immoral and 
only one-tenth industrious and moral? 

"The charge you bring against the Negro race, as a 
race, is very serious, and should be either conclusively 
established or withdrawn. You have not only not 
established it, but you have not even made a beginning 
of establishing it. 

"Now, as a matter of fact, you are wrong in your 
assumption. The fact is that the Negroes have made 
encouraging progress since the Civil war, and it is as 
necessary for an author to accept the facts connected 
with his subject as it was for Margaret Fuller to accept 
the universe. It may be true that there are many cases 
of degeneration among the Negroes, and that many 
of them have developed, or at least manifested, traits 
of character which they were not known to possess 
before the emancipation. But that 'the American 
Negro is degenerating rather than advancing towards 
civilization/ not only is not supported, but is refuted 
by the statistics given in the Twelfth Census and 
issued by the Census Bureau. 



18 The Crucial Race Question 

"Permit me to call your attention to the following 
facts : At the close of the Civil war the Negroes were 
practically all illiterate, but the illiteracy has been 
reduced to 44.5 per cent. Does that look like degenera- 
tion ? Moreover, in some of the States, notably South 
Carolina, Florida and Mississippi (and there may be 
others) the Negroes not only support their own 
schools by the taxes they pay, but they pay more taxes 
than is necessary for the support of their own schools 
and thus contribute to the support of the white schools. 
Further, it was reported in 1900 that there were then 
1,500,000 Negro children in the common schools; 
40,000 Negro students in the higher institutions ; 30,000 
Negro teachers; 17,000 Negro graduates; 500 Negro 
physicians, and 250 Negro lawyers. I am at a loss to 
know what you mean by charging that the Negroes 
as a race are degenerating. And again, these schools 
have a large measure of success. In a public address 
in New York City, Dr. Frissell, the President ot 
Hampton Institute, said that 87 per cent of the school's 
living graduates are known to be profitably employed. 
Dr. Booker Washington, on the same occasion, said 
that 'not a single graduate of Hampton Institute or 
Tuskegee Institute can be found today in any jail or 
state penitentiary.' It is useless to try to cast reflection 
on these men and to call Dr. Booker Washington 'a 
figurehead.' They are honored and trusted by 
wealthy and prominent men of the East, and these 
careful business men would not pour their money 
into these institutions, if, as you imply, they were 
turning out degenerates. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 19 

"I have left myself but little space to note the acqui- 
sition of property, for this is also a test whether 'the 
American Negro is degenerating.' I find by the Census 
Report that the Negroes of the continental United 
States operate 746,715 farms. They own entirely 21 
per cent of these, and partly 4.2 per cent. Thus about 
one-fourth of the Negro farmers have become land 
owners. This is a large increase over 1880. I think 
that I cannot do better here than quote Dr. Frissell. 
He says: ' When you hear that the Negroes are all 
bad, and daily growing worse, will you remember 
that in spite of all their difficulties, the Negroes have 
accumulated property, since the war, amounting to 
nearly $300,000,000 in farms, houses and various busi- 
ness establishments ; that they have themselves raised 
toward their own education $13,000,000; that they 
have accumulated in church property $40,000,000, and 
in school property $15,000,000.' Please observe that 
the foregoing is not a statement of impressions, but of 
facts. Is that degeneration? 

"Let me also quote as bearing on the general ques- 
tion, a statement of Joel Chandler Harris, of the Atlanta 
Constitution. He says : 'The point I desire to make, is 
that the overwhelming majority of the Negroes in all 
parts of the South, especially in the agricultural 
regions, are leading sober and industrious lives. A 
temperate race is bound to be industrious, and the 
Negroes are temperate, when compared with the 
whites. Even in towns the majority of them are sober 
and industrious.' You surely will not say that Harris 
is prejudiced, or that he lacks the opportunities of 



20 The Crucial Kace Question 

observation, for he is well acquainted with the entire 
South ; and lie does not agree ivith you. 

"I have written at length on this one point — the 
degeneration of the American Negro — because the 
charge you bring is unjust to the race. I repeat that 
you have not established the charge. You call it 'an 
assumption/ and you leave it 'an assumption.' 

"I take no active interest in the question, whether 
the Negro Churchmen should have Negro Bishops ; but 
I leave it entirely to the wisdom of the General Con- 
vention. 



a 



I am, with great respect, 

"Truly yours, 

"X. Y. Z." 

II 



This essay was written upon the supposition that 
"The Great American Race Problem" is a sad and 
portentous reality, not merely a horrible nightmare, 
and its author has built much upon the assumption 
that, so far as the Episcopal Church is concerned, 
the greatest contribution that she can make towards 
the solution of that problem is a favorable reply to the 
reiterated, pathetic Appeal of Afro-American Church- 
men for a racial Episcopate. But to the minds of the 
representatives of the Church at the South the great 
objection to such action is based upon a widely pre- 
vailing and profound conviction that the American 
Negro is not yet prepared for the establishment and 
the care of such an institution, and is not likely to be 
in the near future. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 21 

It is confidently asserted by many people who are 
as worthy of consideration and who have lived as long 
at the South as the distinguished editor of the Atlanta 
Constitution, that the Negro constituency of the Epis- 
copal Church can neither supply the requisite "timber" 
for the erection of the institution for which their Con- 
ference of Church Workers are asking, nor keep it out 
of the dust if it were given to them. For five years or 
more I have been a zealous advocate of a racial Episco- 
pate for our Colored Brethren in the Lord ; but all 
along my great fear has been that this deep rooted 
conviction respecting their moral degradation and 
intellectual incapacity would prove to be an insuper- 
able obstacle to the securing of it. 

A great and good man who is a native of the Ameri- 
can Negroes' Paradise, and who for many years has 
had the very best of opportunities to know concerning 
the blooming of the very flower of the race, took me by 
both hands at the Boston General Convention, and 
with marks of distress on his face, and voice quivering 
by intense earnestness pleaded with me to abandon the 
idea and advocacy of an Afro-American Episcopacy. 
He based his appeal upon the ground that we have 
not in the Church and are unable to create a Negro 
constituency that can safely be intrusted with a com- 
plete Ministry. I have not heeded the plea of this 
gifted Southern gentleman, whose name is a house- 
hold word in the Church and throughout the country ; 
but I have felt that a conviction which could move such 
a man to make such a plea must be reckoned with, 
and it has been in mind while many a page of this book 
was being written. 



22 The Crucial Race Question 

If I had written my essay without reference to this 
conviction and upon the supposition that the present 
condition and future prospects of the American Negro 
are what the writer of this statistical letter evi- 
dently thinks them to be, I should have been false 
to the truth as I see it, and to all the important 
interests concerned in the great controversy in which 
the Church is about to engage; and, moreover, my 
labors would have tended to the complication, rather 
than to the solution of a problem which in its wider 
aspects is not only the most perplexing and pressing 
one which confronts the Anglo-American, but it is 
rapidly becoming the problem of the Aryan or Cau- 
casian Race throughout the civilized world. Mr. R. P. 
Sharpless, who is, I believe, a Philadelphia Quaker, in 
a short but noteworthy article to the Public Ledger, 
gives forceful expression to this great truth. I quote 
one of his paragraphs : 

"The world is getting to be full of people — very 
full — and the different races of men, the white, the 
yellow, the brown, the red and the black, are crowd- 
ing each other, and there is friction. The fundamental 
laws of the civilized nation say that all men are created 
free and equal. Nature denies this statement. She 
says that they are different and may not be so com- 
pared. She demands that they keep apart, and decrees 
that if they mingle, the children of the amalgamation 
must die prematurely. That is what nature says, and 
that is what the people of America unconsciously 
demand when they exhibit this natural feeling of race 
hatred. Race antagonism is not confined to the United 
States. It is manifested all over the world. This great 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 23 

question of the separation of the races of man is bound 
to come forward for solution sometime and somewhere. 
Without necessarily deciding which races are better 
than others, a plan will some time be formulated and 
enforced to keep them apart. The advancement of 
humanity demands it. It may be done without war, 
but if it is not done, then war will come from it, and 
the stronger antagonist will put up the bars to keep 
the other out." 

My expressions of opinion upon the subject of 
Negro degeneration are not at all due to race hatred 
or to a low estimation of the Afro-American. I hope 
that I have enough of the spirit of the World's Saviour 
to give me some love, in the Gospel sense of the term 
for all mankind, and that I have learned from the 
Great Teacher not to call any man who bears the 
image of God, common or unclean. I speak, therefore, 
of Afro-American deterioration only by reason of an 
unavoidable necessity which my conscience lays upon 
me, and for the sole purpose of showing the complete 
and hopeless failure of old methods for his moraliza- 
tion, and our consequent bounden duty to devise new 
and more successful methods for his salvation. In 
what I have said upon this painful subject, I have 
assumed that the melancholy observations and sad 
experiences of the whole people of the South as wit- 
nessed to by the overwhelming majority of its most 
representative citizens are entitled to as much of 
credence as any statistics bearing upon the subject 
which a census bureau could collect. The truth is, 
that the degeneration of a People in its most important 
aspects is a matter for experimental conviction, rather 



24 The Crucial Race Question 

than for statistical tabulation. How can the moral and 
physical condition of a deteriorating race be adequately 
exhibited in all its ghastly features by a table of sta- 
tistics? As a writer in The Churchman of July 27th, 
1907, aptly says : "The great difficulty is that the data 
which would be the basis of a correct knowledge of the 
Negro is unprintable ; and he who had the temerity to 
give to the world the collected facts of a first-hand 
study of the race, would find himself immediately the 
target for hostile criticism from every quarter." 

The men who will give expression to convictions 
that are the result of a long life in a Southern Black 
Belt, will have, and they ought to have, more influ- 
ence upon the General Convention than those whose 
convictions are due to theories based upon statistical 
investigations. When the crucial hour for the Appeal 
of the Conference of Church Workers among Colored 
People has arrived, it will be found that the testimony 
of one man of the Bishop Dudley type, and there will 
be many men of that type in both houses, will out- 
weigh all the weighty statistics in the able letter of 
this accomplished Northern gentleman, which statistics 
he evidently regards as quite sufficient for the invalid- 
ation of a considerable part of the argument of this 
essay. 

I am a Southernized Northerner. Before reading 
very far in this book Southerners would perceive this 
fact without being told of it, but it would not be so 
apparent to the Northern reader to whom I am person- 
ally unknown. In order, therefore, that all may under- 
stand me better, I will state that I had never been 
south of the Ohio River until I went to Arkansas as 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 25 

its Bishop Coadjutor-elect. I was consecrated on June 
24th, 1898. Until that time my ignorance concerning 
the Great Race Problem was dense, and my opinions 
about the present condition and future prospects of 
the Southern Negro were those that are commonly 
held at the North. I must have been sixteen years of 
age before I ever saw a colored person, and in all my 
pre-Southern life I had never spent fifteen minutes in 
continuous conversation with one. Of course I had 
heard about the "Great Race Problem of the South," 
but, having practically no knowledge of the Negro, 
the factors of it and its magnitude were almost 
entirely unknown to me. 

I am now in the tenth year of my residence in 
Arkansas. I have studied our Race Problem long 
enough to realize the truth of the oft-repeated, striking- 
remark of one of the most distinguished among my 
teachers, the late gifted and eloquent Bishop of Ken- 
tucky. In the course of almost every conversation upon 
the subject, that great "Apostle to the American 
Negro," used to say : "The longer I study the black man 
and the more I know about him, the blacker and the 
bigger does our Race Problem grow." This has been my 
experience as it has been that of everybody who has 
gone into the problem on the field. The only persons to 
whom it is small and easy are those who theorize from 
a long distance as does this critic. Bishop Dudley's 
solemn words will find more than an echo on the floor 
of the General Convention and the intense conviction 
to which they give expression will, I greatly fear, 
prevent a favorable response to the Appeal of Afro- 
American Churchmen for a Racial Episcopate. 



2G The Crucial Kace Question 

I shall presently make a statistical showing from 
data furnished by expert statisticians which will much 
more than offset that of my critics, and make the 
heart of the reader sick. But really and truly there are 
no statistics that can be made to tell half the story to 
one who has not lived in a Southern Black Belt. 

What statistician has tabulated the data which ade- 
quately exhibit the beastly squalor that is so distress- 
ingly familiar to one who sees much of Negro life in 
the South, and which goes so far to account for the 
alarming prevalence and virulency of the so-called 
"dirt diseases?" How can figures manifest the soul 
and body-destroying cancer of social impurity that by 
common consent has spread until it threatens the 
vitals of the race? Who has collected and arranged 
the statistics that give the Northern man or 
woman any conception of the literal regard of the 
average Negro for the Gospel precept which forbids 
anxiety about the morrow and the consequent demoral- 
izing results of shiftless, hand-to-mouth habits? Where 
are the numerical tables which tell of the lamentable 
growth and effects of the vices of idleness, of gambling, 
of drunkenness and of the cocaine habit? Are there 
any numerals from which Northern people can form a 
real conception of the horrible dread which hangs over 
the Southern White woman who finds herself in an 
unprotected situation, or of the woeful degeneration 
which accounts for the prevalence of the nameless 
crime to which that dread is due? 

These questions are my apology and defense for not 
giving the chapter and verse from a statistical bulle- 
tin for many of the representations and arguments in 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 27 

this essay. My failure to do this is not correctly 
accounted for by the assumption of my Northern 
critics that I attach too little importance to 
statistics, but rather to the fact that I take into the 
dreadful account much important data which neces- 
sarily eludes the Northern statistician and theorist, but 
which inevitably forces itself upon Southern White 
people. What the people of the North need as a pre- 
requisite of an intelligent consideration of the Great 
American Race Problem is not less of statistical light, 
but more of illumination by the candles of observa- 
tion and experience. 

No wonder, then, that in my addresses and publi- 
cations I have thought that I was on safe ground while 
I kept to the paths indicated by the shocking and dis- 
heartening facts that were constantly before my eyes 
and by the vastly predominant opinions of the most 
intelligent and reputable among the people of my be- 
loved adopted land. But in this letter the wisdom of my 
course has been challenged. Appeal against my judg- 
ment has been made to the Caesar of Statistics, and I 
must appear before the tribunal of that potentate. To 
Northern People this is the Supreme Court of Appeals, 
and its decisions are infallible. But it is not so with 
Southerners. If the pronouncements of this Court 
run counter to their observations and experience, they 
are held in little esteem. But since I must go with this 
letter to the Northerner's Supreme Court, I may as 
well take with me an extract from another statistical 
protest just received from my good colored friend 
Archdeacon McGuire. I quote from his letter: 



28 The Crucial Race Question 

''The Business League, of which Dr. Booker Wash- 
ington is President, has spent time and means in 
gathering much information from sources that are reli- 
able and trustworthy. What is the poetic story of 
the figures thus collected? It is: that Negroes now 
own $40,000,000 worth of Church property; that they 
have erected 19,000 churches, with a seating capacity of 
6,000,000; that in their institutions for higher learning 
are 40,000 Negro students ; that there are in our com- 
mon schools, 1,500,000 children; that engaged in the 
training of these children and students are 30,000 
teachers and instructors of the race ; that 25,000 
Colored people are learning the various trades ; that 
1,250 are pursuing scientific courses; that 1,150 are 
taking business courses ; that Colored college gradu- 
ates number 26,000; that in the Negro libraries there 
are 250,000 volumes ; that there are 156 distinct institu- 
tions of higher learning for sons and daughters of 
Colored people; that their physicians number 800; 
their authors 350; their lawyers 521; their magazines 
6, and their newspapers 522 ; that the value of the 
books in the libraries referred to is $550,000; that the 
value of the farms owned by Negroes is $66,000,000; 
that the value of their homes is the colossal sum of 
$335,000,000; and that to this must be added the sum 
of $172,000,000 for personal property. 

"These figures are silent but eloquent tongues that 
tell truly and convincingly of the material and intel- 
lectual evolution of a people only given their freedom 
40 years ago. Bishop, can you duplicate this achieve- 
ment among the nations of the ancient or modern 
world? You cannot, sir!" 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 29 

And there the mail man comes again ! Is he the 
bearer of more letters of statistical criticism from my 
kind and helpful proof readers? Yes! Here is one 
from the Rev. Professor Tunnell, another prominent 
Afro-American Clergyman. He encloses the following 
interesting tabulated exhibit which he says is "from 
Bulletin 8, of the Department of Commerce and 
Labor." It covers again some of the ground of the 
two other exhibits but it also contains some import- 
ant items left out of them and the painstaking tabulat- 
ing work is valuable. Three exhibits from three such 
men must certainly cover the whole field traversed by 
the paths in which it can be claimed that the Negro 
is making progress towards the goal of civilization. 
I also take this exhibit to Court. Surely if my essay 
can endure the light of all these statistics I need have 
no fear for its fate so far as it depends upon the criti- 
cisms of Northern and Negro Statisticians. 

"The Census for 1900 shows employment of the 
Negro in the following lines of service: (1) Agricul- 
tural pursuits 2,143,154; (2) professional callings 
47,219; (3) domestic and personal service 1,317,859; 
(4) trades and transportation 208,989; (5) manufactur- 
ing and mechanical pursuits 275,166; total 3,992,387. 

"In the upper lines of these pursuits (1) farmers, 
planters and overseers as distinct from farm laborers 
757,822; (2) clergymen 15,528; lawyers 728; physicians 
and surgeons 1,734; dentists 194; teachers and profes- 
sors in college 21,267; actors and professional show- 
men 1,439; architects, designers and draughtsmen 45; 
artists and teachers of art 126; electricians 169; civil 



30 The Crucial Race Question 

engineers and surveyors 112; journalists 191; musi- 
cians and teachers of music 2,397; government officials 
584 ; total 802,336. 

"(4) Trade and transportation; agents 2,105; book- 
keepers and accountants 475 ; clerks and copyists 6,172 ; 
merchants and dealers 9,095 ; salesmen and saleswomen 
2,799; stenographers and typewriters 395 ; total 21,041. 

"(5) Manufacturers and mechanical ; blacksmiths 10,- 
100; brick and stone masons 14,386; boot and shoe 
makers and repairers 45,754; carpenters and joiners 
21,113; cotton mill operators 1,425; dressmakers 12,- 
569; engineers and firemen 10,224; iron and steel 
workers 12,327; machinists 1,263; manufacturers and 
officials 1,186; painters, glaziers and varnishers 5,782; 
plumbers, gas and steam fitters 1,193; printers, litho- 
graphers and pressmen 1,220; tailors and tailoresses 
1,845; total 140,387. 

"The farms operated by colored farmers, planters and 
overseers aggregate 38,233,933 acres, or 59,741 square 
miles, an area equal to the states of New England. 
The valuation of property in these farms is $499,943,- 
734, and the products raised by the farmers was $255,- 
75°>435> 2I per cent of which was owned and paid for 
by them, or 187,797 acres. 

Grand total of Afro-Americans engaged in civilized 
employment is 4,956,151." 



Ill 



I am now before the Northern Supreme Court of 
Statistics and the Judge is on the Bench. I am to 
defend myself against the serious charge against me, 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 31 

preferred in the letter and statistical showings under 
review, which is to the effect that in my utterances and 
writings upon the great American Race Problem, 
I have been guilty of ignorantly or maliciously ignor- 
ing such highly creditable showings as those made in 
these statistics, and representing in the face of them 
that "while about ten per cent of Afro-Americans are 
pursuing an upward course towards the higher planes 
of civilization, about 90 per cent are going backwards 
towards the lower levels of barbarism." May I ask the 
reader to put himself or herself in the place of the 
Judge while I defend myself as best I can against this 
charge. I shall proceed upon the assumption that if I 
can show that the Negro in the United States is losing 
ground morally and physically I shall be acquitted. 
For it will be readily seen and admitted that if a People 
is going down hill morally and physically it cannot 
permanently be going up hill mentally, industrially, 
commercially or in any other respect. Moral rectitude 
and physical soundness, undoubtedly, are the indispen- 
sable pre-requisites of any people's advancement, and 
the absence of them is prima facie evidence of degen- 
eration. Believing that the testimony of expert statisti- 
cians would be of most service to me I have turned to 
the writings of men whose labors in the department of 
statistics have made them famous. They are Professor 
W. F. Wilcox of Cornell University, Chief Statistician 
of the United States Census Office, a Northern man, 
and Professor William Benjamin Smith, a mathemati- 
cian and scientist of Tulane University, a Southern 
man, the author of a remarkable book entitled, 
"The Color-Line;" the most interesting chapters of 



32 The Crucial Race Question 

which are made up of a painstaking" analysis and an 
illuminating explanation of Professor Wilcox's great 
statistical Bulletin No. 8, relating to the Negro popula- 
tion of the United States. 

I. In respect to the moral degeneration of the Afro- 
American, Professor Smith says : "It is often urged that 
the comparative criminality of the Negro in the South 
is exaggerated. The white trangressor has friends, 
money and social position and manages to evade the 
law ; the Negro is poor, friendless, and outcast and falls 
an easy victim. In a measure, this may be true — we are 
ashamed to confess ; but it cannot alter the general 
fact, only its degree. On the other hand, very many 
offences of black against black must go unchallenged 
by the law, both from apathy and from fear. These 
two considerations, very likely, about balance each 
other. It is thoroughly decisive, however, that the 
Negro appears a greater criminal in the North and 
East, where there is no prejudice against him, than in 
the South, where the prejudice is supposed to be so 
strong. 

"If we compare the states, we may see this even 
more clearly. In Massachusetts the prisoners were, 
according to the showing of the last census in Bulletin 
No. 8: Whites, 5,157; Blacks, 161. Since the latter 
formed not 1 per cent of the population, their crim- 
inality appears over three times as great as the white ; 
yet they are, presumably, the very elect of the race — 
the best Negroes in the world. In New York, there 
were 10,745 white prisoners and 72$ black; but the 
latter numbered only 117 per 10,000; hence, their 
criminality was six times as sfreat as that of 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 33 

the white. In Pennsylvania there were 5,749 white 
prisoners and 738 black; but the latter formed 
little over two per cent of the population ; hence, 
again, their criminality was six times that of 
the white. In West Virginia there were 320 whites in 
prison and 130 blacks; these latter formed not 5 per 
per cent of the population ; they were seven times 
as criminal as the white. Washington City is the 
Mecca of the Negro; there, if anywhere on earth, he 
should show himself at his best. What is the prison 
record? Whites 138, blacks 358, yet he numbers only 
328 per thousand — he is more than five times as 
criminal as the whites. In Ohio there were 481 black 
prisoners, representing 247 per 10,000 01 the popula- 
tion, and 2,415 whites; again, an eight-fold criminality. 
In Michigan there is no prejudice against the Negro, 
but rather for him, and how stands the court record? 
He numbers only 73 per 10,000 of the population, yet 
he furnishes 141 prisoners against 1,998 whites — this 
time a criminality ten fold ! In the South this record 
is seemingly better. In Louisiana the blacks number 
one-half, but the population of the prisons was 367 
whites, 1,238 blacks; the latter were not quite four- 
fold criminal. In Alabama the population-ratio was 
5,516 to 4,484, but the prison ratio was 422 to 2,096. 
On dividing the former by the latter, we find the 
crime-ratio of six to one. In Mississippi, the popula- 
tion-ratio was 4,342 to 5,658; the prison-ratio was 119 
to 1,058; their quotient, the crime-ratio, was over six 
to one. In Virginia the ratio is over six, in South 
Carolina a little under six, in Indiana nearly five, in 
Georgia over eight, in Illinois nearly nine. 



34 The Crucial Race Question 

"Thus it appears that the Negro everywhere, many 
times oftener than the white man, falls into prison; 
but in the North still oftener than in the South, and 
not only is he relatively more frequently criminal in 
the North— he is absolutely so. For, to judge from 
the court records, the Negro in the South is in general 
more law-abiding than in the North." 

2. As to the physical degeneration of the Afro- 
American, Professor Smith, after giving many sta- 
tistical tables bearing upon this subject and making 
valuable comments upon them, quotes the significant 
confession of Professor DuBois, the ablest among 
American Negroes : "Laziness and promiscuous sexual 
intercourse are the besetting sins of the lower 
class." Professor DuBois finds about 15 per cent 
belonging to the higher class of Negroes, a percentage 
which Professor Smith says, "a wider investigation 
would hardly maintain," and then quotes Professor 
DuBois: "Unless we conquer our present vices, they 
will conquer us. We are diseased ; we are developing 
criminal tendencies, and an alarmingly large percent- 
age of our men and women are sexually impure." 

Professor Smith concludes his survey of the whole 
field of Afro-American physical degeneration with the 
most significant observation : 

"From all of this it is clear, not only that the colored 
birth rate is low and is falling, but why it is low, and 
why it is falling. It is almost impossible that it 
should long remain so much as thirty-five per thou- 
sand per annum, or even thirty-four or thirty-three. 
It seems certainly descending toward thirty — that 
is 300 births per 10,000 yearly. But the present 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 35 

4 

death rate is 296 per 10,000; it fell only three, from 
299 to 296, in the decade from 1890 to 1900. 

"Thus," continues Professor Smith, "it appears cer- 
tain that the birth and death rates of the Negro cannot 
continue very far apart, that they are steadily 
approaching, and that without some strange reversal 
of present tendencies, the birth rate must ere long 
fall below the death rate in all but a very few districts, 
and at no distant period even in them. In all likeli- 
hood these tendencies will be rather strengthened 
than weakened with advancing years, and there are 
those now living who will actually see the Afro- 
American moving rapidly towards extinction." 

IV 

And now may I ask the reader to let me introduce 
Professor W. F. Wilcox, the expert among experts in 
the statistical field, the Chief Statistician of the Census 
Office of the United States. He will bear testimony to 
the effect that industrially the Afro-American is 
unhappily losing ground in the South. He will also 
confirm the inexpressibly sad and almost incredible 
representations of Professor William Benjamin Smith 
about the Moral and Physical Decadence of the 
Negro population of the United States both North and 
South. 

1. Industrially the Negro is certainly losing ground 
in the South. "The staple crops upon which the 
Negroes were occupied before the War," says the 
Chief Statistician, "were probably cotton, tobacco, 
sugar and rice. In i860 the great mass of the work 
in the cotton fields was done by Negro labor. White 



36 The Crucial Race Question 

labor was used, to be sure, in Texas, but at that time 
the whole cotton crop of Texas was less than one- 
twelfth of the country's product. It would probably 
be a conservative statement to say that at least four- 
fifths of the cotton was then grown by the Negroes. 
The only official estimate for any date since that time 
is that of the Statistician to the Department of Agri- 
culture in 1876. He concluded that about three-fifths 
of our cotton was raised in that year by Negroes. At 
the present time probably not one-half is thus grown. 
In 1859 Texas produced one-twelfth, in 1897-98 one- 
fourth, of the cotton of the United States ; and, as in 
that state white labor is usually employed in the cotton 
fields, the advance of Texas means the advance of 
white agricultural labor. 

"Similar changes have been going on in the tobacco 
crop. In 1859 twenty-eight per cent of it was grown in 
Virginia, and mainly, it seems, by Negro labor. In 
1889 less than ten per cent of our crop was grown in 
that State, and the Virginia crop of that year was less 
than two-fifths of what it had been thirty years before. 
In 1889 Kentucky produced over forty-five per cent 
of the tobacco of the country, while ten years earlier 
it produced only thirty-six per cent. American tobacco 
growing evidently is tending to center in Kentucky, 
and yet it is the only Southern State in which the 
number of Negroes decreased during the last decade. 
In over half its counties and in the State as a whole, 
the Negro population decreased, while the white 
increased between 1880 and 1890. It seems that 
tobacco growing, like cotton growing, is passing more 
and more into the hands of the whites. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 37 

"Of the cane sugar crop of the United States in 
1889, over ninety-seven per cent came from Louisiana ; 
and the increase of yield in the preceding decade was 
almost confined to that State, where the acreage 
under cane increased seven per cent and the yield 
forty-two per cent. Apparently, the increase of yield 
in the last ten years, notwithstanding the losses result- 
ing from recent federal legislation, has been quite as 
rapid. In a paper read in 1898 before the Louisiana 
Agricultural Society the statement was made that this 
rapid increase in the production of cane sugar was 'due 
especially to the establishment of large central fac- 
tories/ The machinery in these factories is managed, 
I am informed, almost entirely by white men. 

"With regard to the rice crop of the country, in 
1879 l ess tnan one-fourth of the acreage was in Louis- 
iana, in 1889 over one-half was there. During the last 
decade the acreage outside Louisiana decreased forty- 
two per cent, while that within the State more than 
doubled. In this, as in other staple agricultural indus- 
tries, there has been a marked tendency towards con- 
centration ; and the center of production has passed 
away from South Carolina, which in 1849 produced 
three-fourths of our crop, but in 1889 less than one- 
fourth. This transfer of the rice growing industry is 
largely due to the superior efficiency of white labor. 

"In agricultural pursuits" continues the Chief Statis- 
tician, "the competition between Whites and Blacks 
can be traced more clearly than elsewhere, because in 
that field we have fuller information. Still, there is some 
evidence, derived mainly from statements of educated 



38 The Crucial Eace Question 

Negroes, that in other occupations, also, this competi- 
tion is seriously felt. 

'Thus Professor Hugh M. Browne, of Washington, 
said, in a speech five years ago to a negro audience: 
White men are bringing science and art into menial 
occupations and lifting them beyond our reach. In my 
boyhood the household servants were colored, but now 
in the establishments of the 'four hundred' one finds 
trained white servants. 

"Then the walls and ceilings were whitewashed each 
spring by colored men ; now they are decorated by 
skilled white artisans. Then the carpets were beaten 
by colored men ; now this is done by a white man, 
managing a steam carpet-cleaning works. Then laun- 
dry work was done by negroes ; now they are with 
difficulty able to manage the new labor-saving 
machine. 

"Similar testimony comes from another Negro, Mr. 
Fortune, editor of an influential Negro paper. He 
said in 1897: 'When I left Florida for Washington 
twenty years ago, every brakeman, every engineer 
and almost every man working on the railroad was 
a black man. Today a black man can hardly get a 
job at any avocation. This is because the fathers 
did not educate their children along the lines in which 
they were working, and, as a consequence, the race is 
losing its grip on the industries that are the bone and 
sinew of life/ At the same conference Mr. Fitch, the 
field missionary of Hampton Normal Institute, 
reported that he found the old men everywhere work- 
ing at the trades they learned in slavery, but nowhere 
did he find young men learning these trades. Similarly, 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 39 

Principal Frissell, in the opening address, said : There 
is great danger that the colored people will be pushed 
out of the occupations that were once theirs, because 
the white tradesmen are coming in to fill their places.' 

r The 'Black Belt' " continues Professor Wilcox, "may 
be defined as those counties in which the Negro popu- 
lation outnumbered the White. In Maryland in i860 
there were five such counties, and in 1890 only two. 
In Virginia there were forty-three and in 1890 only 
thirty-three. In North Carolina there were nineteen 
and in 1890 only sixteen. The group of adjoining 
counties in southeastern Maryland, eastern Virginia 
and northeast North Carolina, which formed the most 
northerly outpost of the black belt in i860, has 
decreased in thirty years from sixty-two counties to 
forty-six, or almost exactly one-fourth. In i860 
Kentucky had one county belonging to the black belt, 
while in 1890 it had none. In i860 Northern Alabama 
had two counties belonging to the black belt, but in 
1880 both of these had disappeared from the map. In 
the cotton-growing regions of the more southerly 
states there has been an increase of the counties 
belonging to the black belt, but not enough entirely to 
offset these changes. It seems that locally the 
Negroes have begun to yield ground to the whites in 
the regions most favorable to the latter, and that such 
a change is likely to continue." 

2. We come at last to the Chief Statistician's rein- 
forcement of the melancholy representations of Profes- 
sor Smith about the Moral and Physical Decadence of 
the Afro-American, and his outlook for the future. 
Professor Wilcox says : 



40 The Crucial Bace Question 

"In the Northern States, in 1890, there were twelve 
white prisoners to every ten thousand whites, and 
sixty-nine Negro prisoners to every ten thousand 
Negroes. In our own State of New York the Negroes, 
in proportion to their numbers, contributed over five 
times as many as the whites to the prison population. 
These facts furnish some statistical basis and warrant 
for the popular opinion, never seriously contested, that 
under present conditions in this country a member of 
the African race, other things equal, is much more 
likely to fall into crime than a member of the white 
race. This is the unanimous opinion of the Southern 
whites, and is conceded by representative Negroes. 
Thus, among the resolutions adopted by the Negro 
Conference at Hampton, Va., in July, 1898, was the 
admission that 'the criminal record of the colored 
race in all parts of the country is alarming in its 
proportions/ 

"The Negro prisoners in the Southern States to ten 
thousand Negroes, increased between 1880 and 1890 
twenty-nine per cent, while the white prisoners to ten 
thousand whites increased only eight per cent. Here, 
again, to the obvious inference that crime is increasing 
among the Negroes much faster than among the 
whites, the same objection is sometimes raised, namely, 
that prejudice against that race is so influential in the 
South as to invalidate the argument. The same appeal 
as before to the figures for the North and West consti- 
tutes a convincing reply to any such contention. In 
the states where slavery was never established, the 
white prisoners increased seven per cent faster than 
the white population, while the Negro prisoners 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 41 

increased no less than thirty-nine per cent 
faster than the Negro population. Thus the increase 
of Negro criminality, so far as it is reflected in the 
number of prisoners, exceeded the increase of white 
criminality more in the North than it did in the South. 

"I have no time to go into complex statistical evi- 
dence bearing upon the vitality of the Negro race, 
and its power to meet successfully the increasing 
industrial competition, to which it must be exposed, 
as these states fill with people, as cities spring up and 
prosper, and as industry, trade and agriculture become 
diversified and more complex. The balance of the 
evidence, however, seems to me to indicate for the 
future a continuance of changes already begun, viz., a 
decrease in the Negro birth rate decidedly more rapid 
than the actual present or probable future decrease in 
the death-rate. This would result obviously in a 
slackening rate of increase, and, then in a stationary 
condition, followed by slow numerical retrogression. If 
this anticipation should be realized the Negroes will 
continue to become, as they are now becoming, a 
steadily smaller proportion of the population. 

"The final outcome, though its realization may be 
postponed for centuries, w r ill be, I believe, that the 
race will follow the fate of the Indians, that the great 
majority will disappear before the whites, and that 
the remnant found capable of elevation to the level of 
the white man's civilization will ultimately be merged 
and lost in the low r er classes of the whites, leaving 
almost no trace to mark their former existence. 

"Where such a lower people has disappeared, the 
causes of their death have been mainlv disease, vice 



42 The Crucial Race Question 

and profound discouragement. It seems to me clear 
that each one of these causes is affecting the Negro 
race far more deeply and unfavorably at the present 
time than it was at the date of their emancipation. 
The medical evidence available points to the conclu- 
sion that they are more than ever afflicted with the 
scourges of disease, such as typhoid fever and con- 
sumption, and with the physical ills entailed by sexual 
vice. I have argued elsewhere to show that both in 
the North and in the South crime among the Negroes 
is rapidly increasing. Whether the race as a whole is 
as happy, as joyous, as confident of the future, or 
thoughtless of it, as it was before the War, you, my 
hearers, know far better than I. I can only say that in 
my studies I have found not one expression of dissent 
from the opinion that the joyous buoyancy of the race 
is passing away; that they feel upon them a burden 
of responsibility to which they are unequal ; that the 
lower classes of Negroes are resentful, and that the bet- 
ter classes are not certain or sanguine of the outcome. 
If this judgment be true, I can only say that it is per- 
haps the most fatal source of race, as of national, decay 
and death." 

The Hon. Eaton J. Bowers of Mississippi is not a 
statistician of the same high rank with Professors 
Wilcox and Smith, but he is quite the equal of any 
among my statistical critics. In 1894 he made a notable 
speech in the House of Representatives bearing upon 
the race problem in which he showed from the 1890 
United States Census Report that the number 
of Negro prisoners to a million of Negro inhabitants in 
the United States was in 1870, 1,621 ; in 1880, 2,480, and 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 43 

in 1890, 3,775. The speech was a reply to certain reflec- 
tions upon the South by a Massachusetts Representa- 
tive. The accuracy of his astonishing representation 
was not questioned at the time, nor has it been since. 
It may be contended that according to this orator's 
showing - , the increase in the number of Negro prisoners 
in 1890 over 1880 was 74 short of what it had been in 
1880 over 1870; but this slightly favorable symptom is 
unhappily offset by the fact that there had been ten long 
years more of freedom and education, and, especially, 
by the fact that at the North, where the Negro is in the 
enjoyment of the most of these and other advantages of 
racial equality, the percentage of criminals increased to 
an alarming extent ; while in the South, where the edu- 
cation of the Negro, particularly in the higher branches, 
is not so generally encouraged, and where the Color- 
Line is drawn a great deal more rigidly, the percentage 
was comparatively inconsiderable. The ratio of increase 
in the number of Negro criminals per one million of 
their population in all the Southern States from 1880 to 
1890 was only 678, whereas in Massachusetts, the 
Negro's mecca of social equality and opportunity, the 
ratio was 1,877, an< ^ m New York, 2,079. 

If this sad showing does not prove me to have been 
right in asserting that the Negro is degenerating 
morally, it is difficult to see how anything can be 
proved by statistics. And as morality is the foundation 
without which there can be no super-structure it is evi- 
dent that the Negro as a race has not yet even com- 
menced the building of the splendid palace of civiliza- 
tion, but is still living in the rickety hut of semi- 
barbarism. 



44 The Crucial Race Question 

V 

I. My Northern statistical critic quotes a statment of 
the Atlanta Constitution to the effect that "the over- 
whelming majority of Negroes in all parts of the South 
are leading sober and industrious lives." It is not my 
privilege to see much of that paper, but I do see a great 
deal of the Negro in one of the large Black Belts of 
the South, and I must be excused for believing my own 
eyes and the unanimous testimony of the most intelli- 
gent and reputable among the citizens or Arkan- 
sas, instead of this representation of the Atlanta 
Constitution, especially since I happen to know that the 
state of which its editor is a distinguished citizen was 
compelled on account of the increase of intemperance 
among its Negro population to pass a prohibition law ; 
and that so worthless and shiftless has Negro labor 
become that the large cotton planters all through the 
Mississippi Delta are beginning to import Italian labor, 
a thing which the sugar planters of Louisiana com- 
menced to do long ago. 

Much of this essay was written on the train while I 
was traveling hither and thither through the Black- 
Belt of my Diocese, or sojourning in the homes of 
people within the limits of that extensive region of 
25,000 square miles ; and, naturally enough, therefore, 
it reflects the facts of observation, experience and tes- 
timony rather than of statistics. But Professors Wil- 
cox and Smith evidently did their work in the quietude 
of their studies and with the library of an University 
at their command. Accordingly they make statistics 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 45 

the basis of all their representations and arguments. 
Nevertheless, they in their studies and I in my field 
have reached substantially the same conclusions. 
Indeed, they make a worse showing than I do as to the 
present condition and future prospects of the Afro- 
American. They show that he is failing morally and 
physically, everywhere, both North and South ; and 
Doctor Bowers shows that his moral failure in Massa- 
chusetts and also in New York is colossal. 

I am not a statistician, but I am an observer of the 
actual facts and the collector of what I regard as the 
best testimony of both the Caucasians and the Negroes 
living in a fairly representative Black Belt. But statis- 
tics have been demanded of me and accordingly I have 
been compelled to make my dark picture of observa- 
tion and testimony much darker by introducing the 
black pigment of the official numerical data bearing 
upon the melancholy subject of Afro-American degen- 
eration. And as my figures and the explanations and 
deductions from them are quotations from the writ- 
ings of the highest authorities whose exhibits have 
never been called in question, and whose representations 
stand unchallenged by their peers, I respectfully claim 
from the judge, my reader, acquittal from the serious 
charge of having done the Negro an injustice in the 
allegation of a moral and physical degradation which, 
without a general reformation, renders his outlook as a 
race hopeless. 

2. In the statistics presented by the able protesters 
whose communications are under consideration, there 
is a showing of increase in wealth and an intimation 
that in the financial field of endeavor the Negroes in 



46 The Crucial Race Question 

some places are outstripping the Whites and finding 
it necessary to assist them in the education of their 
children ! 

But so far as I can ascertain, there are only three 
Southern States which list the property of White and 
Colored People separately. These are Virginia, North 
Carolina and Georgia. In these states the average per 
capita wealth of the Negroes is according to the best 
available statistics, considerably less than $25.00, 
whereas the average per capita wealth of the White 
people is more than $300.00. The Negroes of these 
states are among the best to be found anywhere in 
the country, and this being the case I shall be very 
much surprised if it can be shown that those of South 
Carolina, Florida and Mississippi are in a better or 
even as good financial condition. I am almost certain 
that they are much worse off in Arkansas. 

The school tax everywhere is based upon property 
valuation and undoubtedly the great bulk of property 
in South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi belongs to 
white people. It would seem therefore that there 
must be something wrong with the representation that 
the colored people in those states not only are paying 
all the cost of the education of their own children, 
but also are contributing considerable sums to educate 
the children of their white neighbors. 

To one whose impressions concerning the Afro- 
American depends upon observation and testimony 
rather than on statistics, this statement bears on the 
face of it a most suspicious aspect. I am at a loss to 
know how my statistical critic or his authority got the 
interesting information the statement is supposed to 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 47 

contain. At my request a distinguished Mississippian, 
who I knew would be fair to the Negro, looked into the 
matter so far as it concerns his state. He reported, "I 
called at the office of the Superintendent of Public In- 
struction and found him out, but afterward received the 
reports of the two years preceding the last meeting 
of the Legislature. I could not get from this report 
figures which would prove your critic's statement, nor 
that would disprove it. I have no doubt that Missis- 
sippi Negroes pay more taxes than would be necessary 
to educate their children, but taxes are used for other 
purposes than education, and my information from 
reliable sources is that the taxes on the School Account 
from Negroes fall far short of the amount needed for 
the education of their own children. It would seem 
somewhat strange that your critic up North could re- 
ceive accurate information on the subject when I, in 
personal touch with the Superintendent's office cannot 
get it. The truth is, the Superintendent does not keep 
his books in that way. I think your critic would do 
well to acquaint himself more fully with the facts 
before venturing to publish a statement of that nature." 

Then the Mississippian goes on to observe that those 
in his State who are opposed to the over-education 
or the wrong education of the Negro are advocating 
a division of the school tax, a fact which to his mind 
conclusively disproves the statement under con- 
sideration. 

As to Florida, the Superintendent of Education in 
that State says : "There is no way of determining the 
amount of taxes paid by the Negroes. It is estimated, 
however, that they do not pay more than two per cent. 



48 The Crucial Kace Question 

cf the entire taxes of the State. Under separate cover 
I am sending you a copy of my latest Biennial Report. 
You will find that the salaries of Negro teachers 
amount to sixteen per cent, of the entire amount paid 
for the salaries of teachers." 

I am unfortunately obliged to go to press before 
hearing from the South Carolina gentleman to whom I 
wrote. But I have a letter from a most intelligent 
Arkansas correspondent that throws some light upon 
the whole subject of Negro school taxes. I quote from 
it: 

"The time is too short for me to get the exact sta- 
tistics for which you are looking. Your Northern 
statistician's statements are partly right and partly 
wrong. As to the point about which you are especially 
desirous of exact data, I have no hesitancy in saying 
off-hand that he is mistaken. If his contention is 
correct then why is it that in the very states mentioned 
by him there is a quite general desire for the segrega- 
tion of the school tax. In Arkansas the Negroes with 
nearly a third of the population pay less than a ninth 
of the amount given for public education. I am making 
this statement from memory, but am sure it will be 
verified as soon as I hear from the Superintendent of 
Education. 

"My experience teaches me that you had better scru- 
tinize carefully all floating statistics bearing upon the 
Negro question, for they are apt to be padded. You are 
wise in determining to confine yourself largely to the 
statistical exhibits of Professors Wilcox and Smith and 
in accepting their interpretations of their own show- 
ings. They are men of science, one a representative 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 49 

and reliable man of the North, and the other equally 
so of the South. They seem to have reached much the 
same conclusions. Keep your book in line with their 
representations, and its statements as far as they bear 
upon the condition and outlook of the Negro will be 
uncontrovertible. 

"Of course we all know that your critic is right in 
his general conclusion that many Negroes have made 
and are making gratifying progress along material and 
educational lines. That they are doing this is evident 
from their creditable exhibits at various industrial 
expositions ; but as you always have contended the 
moral condition of the great majority of the race is dis- 
couraging. From the conversations we have had I am 
perfectly certain that the ground is secure under your 
feet, and that you are not likely to be successfully 
assailed on account of the darkness of your picture. 
But Bishop, do brighten it up by leaving out some of 
the darker shades, for as you so well know, your 
Northern friends, especially those of Boston, will not 
look at the real picture and it is dispiriting to our good 
Negroes whose number is increasing, if slowly, yet 
surely. They are as you so aptly call them 'the Elect.' 
As compared with the whole population they are few. 
They are engaged in a noble effort to uplift their race. 
It is a stupendous, discouraging and thankless task. 
They are distrusted by the Negro and suspected by 
the white man. They need encouragement. For their 
sakes make your picture as bright as the truth will 
admit of. I hope the Church not only will give these 
'Elect Negroes' an adequate Episcopate, but also sup- 
port it adequately." 



50 The Crucial Race Question 

But if it be true that, in South Carolina, Florida, 
and Mississippi, Negroes pay more school-tax money 
than is expended upon the education of their children, 
then it must be that a decadence is beginning also in the 
matter of education as well as in some other important 
things that make for civilization. I happen to know that 
in some Southern places the Negroes are losing their in- 
terest in the schools. If they open in September very 
few will send their children before November or De- 
cember, and the majority leave in April or May. This 
would indicate that the Negro of the South is becoming 
more anxious to loaf or take chances of picking up a lit- 
tle money now and then by doing odd jobs than he is 
to acquire an education. The money being collected, 
the white supervisors are not foolish enough to let it 
go to waste ; so that, if there is any of the colored 
money spent upon white schools, I think it is entirely 
due to the fact that the Negroes do not any longer 
flock to the schools in sufficient numbers to warrant 
the expenditure of all the money which they con- 
tributed. 

3. As for Dr. Booker Washington's oft-quoted remark 
that "not a single graduate of the Hampton or Tuske- 
gee Institutes can be found today in any jail or state 
penitentiary," my answer is a demand for a list of the 
graduates of those institutions. I do not believe that 
in either case it will be forthcoming, and I am morally 
certain that the publication of such lists, and the inves- 
tigation of them would be a revelation to "the wealthy 
and prominent men of the East." I call for the list or 
the withdrawal of both Dr. Washington's statement, 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 51 

and the objection of the statistical critic to my repre- 
sentation that the Negro is degenerating, morally and 
physically, and that the Hampton and Tuskegee Insti- 
tutes are not doing what at the North and South they 
are popularly supposed to be doing to turn the tide. 

In concluding my answer to the statistical showing 
of my Northern Caucasian and Negro critics, I call 
attention to the fact that if their statistics had any 
great realities behind them, the American Race 
problem is a myth and there is no need for any radical 
change of national, ecclesiastical or philanthropic 
policy touching the Afro-American nor for an argu- 
ment intended to show that our Colored Brethren in 
the Lord are entitled to the Episcopate and capable of 
caring for it. I gladly welcome every iota of truth 
that is represented in such statistics, but I cannot be 
deceived by them, and I think the time has come when 
Negroes and Northern people should be undeceived. 
Nothing can be done while, by the citation of such 
statistics, men continue to "cry peace, peace, where 
there is no peace." 

In view of the sad facts concerning the moral and 
physical degeneration of the Afro-American, all the 
effort that is made to show that he is progressing in 
the ways which lead to mental illumination and mate- 
rial acquisitions, even if it should be successful, is 
without much bearing upon the subject of this book. 
For neither individuals nor races can be saved by 
either knowledge or wealth. "Righteousness exalteth 
a nation." Professor Smith, towards the close of his 
most painstaking and fair-minded book, makes a true 
remark bearing upon this subject which will be a 



52 The Crucial Race Question 

revelation to some among my readers and go far 
towards convincing them of the degeneration of the 
Negro: "The whole family of facts here assembled, 
especially those that establish the greater and faster 
growing criminality of the Northern Negro, show 
clearly that education is not the cure for his ills. 
Generation after generation of coddling and sym- 
pathy in the North has not effaced a single racial trait 
nor raised by a single notch the average character, 
moral or ^mental or physical, of hundreds of thousands 
of the pick of their race. Nearly forty years of devoted 
and enthusiastic effort to elevate and educate the 
Southern Negro lie stretched out behind us in a dead 
level of failure. We grant freely and gladly that there 
are exceptions, rare and remarkable enough. But that 
the average of the Negro, both moral and physical, 
has fallen and is falling measurably under all 
endeavors to lift him up, is a fact that shines out 
clear in the light of the foregoing statistics." 

One of the ablest among my critics writes: "The 
gravitation of the Afro-American downward is the 
natural pruning which is going on at all times with all 
people. With the Negro, owing to his past and die 
conditions in which he is found, it is rapid and whole- 
sale and seems to threaten his extinction. If there were 
not the 'Elect' the process would end in extermination. 
So it was with the Israelite when he came out of Egypt. 
The whole generation, save Caleb and Joshua, left their 
bones in the desert. So it was at the time of the 
destruction of Jerusalem. The 'natural pruning' of a 
people given to vice and immorality cuts out all but the 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 53 

'elect' upon whom, and not upon the multitude, the 
future rests." 

But really there is very little of analogy between the 
ancient Israelo-Egyptians and the modern Afro-Ameri- 
cans as to the causes for their rapid perishing. The 
fearful mortality of the Israelites in the wilderness was 
for only a generation and it was due chiefly to external 
causes over which they had little or no control. But 
the perilous death rate of the Afro-American appears 
to be rising as time goes on and its roots are inward 
vices. So far as social purity was concerned the 
Israelite was an example to the world and he owed 
very few deaths to it, while the impurity of the Afro- 
American is a by-word with all peoples and is the chief 
cause of their astonishing mortality. After forty years 
there was a great improvement in the moral and physi- 
cal condition of the new generation of Israelites. Who, 
White or Black, will compare our young Negroes with 
the old time Negro to the disparagement of the latter? 
As soon as the Israelo-Egyptians reached the Promised 
Land they multiplied rapidly and made progress 
in the way of building up a racial civilization, the 
influence of which after more than three thousand 
years is felt throughout the world. Where is there so 
much as a sign of such civilization that is to be the out- 
come of Afro-American emancipation? 

I have been driven to the study of statistics by my 
Anglo-American and Afro-American critics, and it has 
resulted in the conviction that all the figures as well 
as all experience, observation and testimony point to 
the conclusion, that, unless the Afro-American 
stream of moral and physical vitality can be changed 



54 The Crucial Race Question 

so that it will flow into the Ocean of Life instead of 
the Ocean of Death he, considered as a race, is in the 
Valley of the Shadow of Death. And it would seem 
from the showing of these great and unimpeachable 
authorities that it is as a narrow valley, hemmed in on 
either side by precipitous, and to them, inaccessible 
mountain ranges of incalculable heights on the 
summits of which are the sunny plateaus of modern 
civilization. The rising sun of righteousness will 
indeed shine into this abysmal valley but, in it, the day 
of light and warmth necessarily will be of compara- 
tively short duration. It is our duty as Anglo-Amer- 
icans to make that day for Afro-Americans as long and 
as bright and as warm as possible. It is the contention 
of this book that we Anglo-American Catholic Chris- 
tians can contribute most to this philanthropic end by 
the creation of an autonomous Afro-American Epis- 
copate and Church. 



CHAPTER III 

The Adverse Criticism of an Anglo-American Pries! 

Stated and Answered. 



The view of tlrose who object to a favorable 
response of any kind to the Appeal of Afro-American 
Churchmen, especially to the one recommended by 
the Arkansas Memorial, finds frank and vigorous 
expression in a letter to me from a gifted and cultured 
Southern Clergyman of high social and ecclesiastical 
standing who undoubtedly represents the opinions 
and the feelings by which many members of the Gen- 
eral Convention will be influenced in their attitude 
towards and final action upon the Appeal : 

"Bishop," he says, "when you speak as if we 
objected to a Negro Episcopate because it will be 
'imperfect' and then point to the imperfection of the 
representatives of our own Episcopate as an answer 
to our objection you are simply setting up 'a man of 
straw and then destroying him.' On the point of 
morality, I have known Negroes in whom dependence 
could be placed for truth and honesty, yet whose repu- 
tation for sexual morality was bad. 

"On this point of intelligence we have only to con- 
sider what the Negro Methodist and other Churches 



56 The Crucial Race Question 

have become under Negro leadership, that is, political 
clubs, where discontent and opposition to the White 
race are fomented. 

"I know one Negro Baptist Church 

which had to be sold, the congregation having scat- 
tered from the pastor, because he boasted that he 
never went outside of his own congregation for his 
concubines. I have known several Negroes in our 
own Ministry who, when they were put in places of 
authority, could not stand it; one became a gambler 
and drunkard, one became irregular in his sexual 
morality and went to the Methodists, one became dis- 
honest and had to resign after twenty years. 

"The practical objection to Negro Bishops is not 
that they would not be' perfect/ but that they would 
not measure up to the standard of intelligence and 
morality expected in the Episcopate. This is the 
crux of the whole matter to me, and to most men who 
know the Negro well. 

"The only reason for giving the Negro an inde- 
pendent or any other kind of Episcopate, is to get them 
into the Church which alone seems able to moralize 
them. But, Bishop, if you set them up by themselves, 
do you not destroy the only thing which makes the 
Church able to help them, that is its White leadership? 
And will not your proposed independent Afro-Amer- 
ican Church, though having valid orders, soon sink to 
the level of the other so-called Churches of the 
Negroes? How is Methodist Episcopacy working? 

"There is another thing to be taken into consid- 
eration. When you consecrate a man Bishop you 
make him a 'Bishop in the Church of God,' having the 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 57 

highest rank of the Christian Ministry and entitled 
to the rights of that office, and there are many Negroes 
who would try to claim those rights. What would be 
the practical results? Suppose, 'an upstart' Negro, 

for instance should be made a Bishop, I know 

him well enough to know he would try to force him- 
self just as far as his office would carry him. Such 
aggressiveness on the part of such Negro Bishops 
would, as I and many Southern men know, mighty 
soon give us a practical schism not only in the body 
of the American Church, but probably in the body of 
the proposed Negro Episcopate as well. 

"There is the trouble, Bishop. They don't want to 
become an independent Church, sir, with no connec- 
tion with our Church ; they want to have the highest 
rank of the Ministry so that they can go to the North 
and take rank over White Priests. All this is right 
from their point of view, but it is against nature and 
impossible in this country. Somebody at the General 
Convention is mighty apt to talk along these lines, 
using more politic language possibly, but still talking 
on these vital objections to your proposition." 

II 

In reply to this representative Southern objector 
to the Arkansas Plan and Memorial I will say : 

i. I believe that any attentive reader of my essay 
as a whole, who is not blinded by prejudice will see 
that "a man of straw" does not quite fairly represent 
the success of my effort to state and answer the objec- 
tions to the creation of the proposed Afro-American 
Episcopate, which are based upon the allegations that 



58 The Crucial Race Question 

the Negro is not "morally and intellectually" qualified 
for the Episcopate. In my contention on behalf of the 
Appeal of Colored Churchmen and the Arkansas Plan 
of answering it, I everywhere practically admit that 
Colored Bishops would not "measure up" in these 
and, perhaps, other respects to the standard of White 
Bishops. In view of this reiterated admission on my 
part it hardly can be said of me that I am "setting up 
a man of straw and then destroying him" when I claim 
that Anglo-American Churchmen cannot reasonably 
and consistently deny to Afro-American Churchmen 
the Episcopate, because their Bishops would not 
"measure up" to ours, morally, intellectually and edu- 
cationally, or when I intimate that in respect to these 
qualities it is quite possible for us to deceive ourselves 
as to the loftiness of our own Episcopal standard, and 
our right to insist upon the measuring of the Epis- 
copates of other races by it. 

Upon the principle that "from him to whom much is 
given much will be required and from him to whom 
little is given little will be required," I am right in the 
contention of this essay that it would be wrong for us 
to refuse a favorable reply to the Appeal of Afro- 
American Churchman, because they have no "Epis- 
copal timber" that will "measure up" to what we have 
in our Episcopate, and which exists in such super- 
abundance in our Clerical forests. The truth of the 
matter is exactly as I represent it ; that it would not be 
impossible to create an Afro-American Episcopate 
which relatively would "measure up" to our Episco- 
pate, and that, therefore, we cannot reasonably and 
rightfully deny the appeal of our Colored brethren 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 59 

upon the ground of the alleged moral and intellectual 
defect in their Episcopal timber. 

I admit that there is a sad possibility that some 
representative of the proposed Afro-American Episco- 
pate might fall into the sin of social impurity or of 
ecclesiastical schism ; but I contend that the con- 
templation of these possibilities should no more deter 
us from the creation of that Episcopate, than our own 
melancholy history respecting the same sins should 
prevent us from the perpetuation of the Anglo-Amer- 
ican Episcopate. 

No doubt the Colored Clergy are conscious of their 
moral weakness as the White Clergy are of theirs but 
we must not forget that responsibility makes a man 
do his utmost to "measure up" to the demands made 
of men in similar position. Our Negro Priests are, on 
the whole, the most moral of Negro Ministers and 
people in the land, and it is not fair to deny their 
appeal for racial Bishops because of the failure of the 
weak members of their Ministry. Unhappily Angels 
have fallen from their first estate, and so have Arch- 
angels. But happily this has not served as sufficient 
reason to distrust other Angels and Archangels. 
Gabriel still stands in the presence of God, and 
Michael still continues to lead the armies of the Lord 
of Hosts, even though Satan rebelled and mutinied. 
Bishops, and other Clergy, have experienced sad 
moral failures, but we do not therefore say no man 
shall be admitted to our White Episcopate and 
Ministry. 

These Colored men have met the canonical require- 
ments, mental and moral, for ordination as Priests 



60 The Crucial Race Question 

and their credentials have been signed almost always 
by the White Clergy who have known them. I verily 
believe that the various Bishops under Avhom the 
more prominent of our Negro Clergy serve, and from 
among whom the candidates for the Episcopate would 
come, will be willing to give them as good endorse- 
ment for moral rectitude as they would give to any 
White Clergyman nominated for the same high office. 

We need not be pessimistic about our Negro Epis- 
copate "measuring up." Bishop Ferguson of West 
Africa and Bishop Holly of Hayti, surrounded with 
idolatry in the one case, and with Voodooism in the 
other, living in the midst of Negro peoples deprived of 
white association, and seeing all the good and all the 
bad in the life of Negro Republics, have nevertheless 
"measured up" to the morals of the White Episcopate. 
Not a breath of suspicion has ever attached to these 
two Negro Bishops who have lived for long years amid 
heathen and unmoral surroundings, and who since 
their consecration have, from the standpoint of morals 
at least, made glad the heart of the American Church. 
The English Church has the same story to tell of its 
first Black Bishop Samuel Crowther, and his two or 
three successors in the heart of Africa. Of about five 
Black Bishops already consecrated by the Anglo-Cath- 
olic Church, not one has been reprehensible for error 
in doctrine, viciousness of life, or desire for schism. 
They all have "measured up." The highest confi- 
dence has been reposed in them. Let us hold up the 
examples of what all of our Negro Bishops have done, 
and not deal with the shortcomings of some Negro 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 61 

Priests and Deacons who would never stand any 
chance for the Episcopate. Let us be charitable. 

As to intellectual "measuring up" our Negro breth- 
ren are modest. They know that they can never hope 
to be, under conditions which exist, the intellectual 
equals of the White Bishops, mass for mass. But 
there are individuals among the Negro Clergy who 
may be the intellectual equal of this or that member 
of the House of Bishops, and Negroes as well as 
Whites know this. But has the Church ever set, as a 
requirement to the Episcopate, excellence in the higher 
learning? We are not aware of it. Were this a sine 
qua non there are several members of the House of 
Bishops who would be willing to confess that among 
their White brethren of the Priesthood there are many 
better fitted for the Bishopric from the intellectual 
and educational standpoints. 

2. The letter which we are reviewing is written by 
a strong man and he states the great objection of a 
large class of people in the Church, especially through- 
out the South, against the proposed Afro-American 
Episcopate as strongly as it is likely ever to be stated 
in our Church papers or on the floor of the General 
Convention. But all the illustrative incidents which 
he cites in support of this objection, upon which so 
many have taken their stand, are in favor of our posi- 
tion rather than his. The Baptist people fell away 
from the "libertine." The "gambler" and the "drunk- 
ard" were compelled to leave the Episcopal Ministry 
and so was the "dishonest" man. This is a promising 
showing, big with hope. The moral sentiment which 



62 The Crucial Race Question 

makes it possible is a great credit to the Negro, and it 
seems to me that its existence conclusively proves that 
the Episcopate may safely and profitably be given to 
the Afro-American. 

In none of the cases does the commendable and 
effective moral sentiment appear to be directly due to 
White leadership. It would seem therefore that the 
point respecting the necessity of a White, rather than 
a Colored Ministry, is not well taken. I admit that it 
is highly desirable and, indeed, I have gone so far as 
to insist that it is absolutely necessary for the Negro 
to have White leadership ; but, it is one of the main 
contentions of this essay, that such leadership must be 
that of indirect good example and helpful co-operation. 

In what he says about "up-start Negroes" my gifted 
friend and frank critic is putting the fatal logical noose 
over his own head for his representation, which I 
admit to be in exact accordance with the truth, affords 
a strong argument in favor not only of Afro-Amer- 
ican Bishops but of Autonomy for them. The truth 
of the matter is that the writer of this criticism of the 
Arkansas Plan would regard any Negro who was 
given rank over Priests and Deacons, and equality 
with Bishops in the Anglo-American Church as "an 
upstart," if not in an invidious sense at least in the 
sense of being out of place. 

It may be broadly asserted that the Southern White 
man does not live who would be pleased to see either 
Booker Washington or Professor DuBois walking 
with his Bishop in a procession or sitting with him at 
a banquet, and the great, overwhelming majority 
would be very much displeased at such sights. And 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 63 

as a matter of fact what is true of our Bishops is almost, 
if not quite, equally true of our Priests and Deacons 
and even of the Laity. Practically no one among us 
likes to see a mix up of White and Colored people 
of any rank on any occasion, and this is almost as true 
of official mix-ups as of social mix-ups. 

The Southern Whites cannot tolerate mix-ups of 
any kind and the better they are the less tolerant they 
are of them. Not only do native Southerners feel this 
way but Southernized Northerners are, if anything, 
even more radical in this feeling. Nor are Southerners 
without sympathizers at the North. The Copper- 
heads are not all dead up there. On the contrary, in 
many places they are very much alive and increasing 
rapidly. Every indication points to a time, certainly 
not more than twenty-five years hence, when the 
Color-Line will be drawn almost as rigidly in many 
Northern places as it always has been and always will 
be in the South. The trend everywhere is all in one 
direction. There are a number of towns above the 
Mason and Dixon line from which the Negroes have 
been run out. My representations will be called 
in question by only a very few people who have their 
heads in a sand heap of prejudice so deeply that they 
are incapable of taking account of the rising tide of 
race prejudice against the Negro, but it will not be 
long before the advancing waves will level the sand 
that they have piled up for themselves. 

Now what does this dislike to mix-ups which is 
universal in the South and growing at the North 
mean? Well, it may or it may not mean a good many 



64 The Crucial Bace Question 

things, but to my mind it certainly does mean that the 
day of the White leadership in the Church, of which 
my gifted friend and frank critic speaks is "done 
past" and "done gone." And in truth white leadership 
of the kind he has in mind never was an abiding sub- 
stantial reality. At best it has been nothing more 
than the beautiful vision of the dark outlines of a 
sailing ship passing before the full face of the rising 
moon. White leadership in the sense of an official 
Ministry can no more control the destiny of the 
Colored Race than white sails can regulate the 
movements of the moon. Under existing conditions, 
in these United States a White Ministry has about 
as much of a mission to the Negro as white sails have 
to the Man or the Madonna in the moon. 

Present conditions and also the very nature of 
things make it impossible that beyond a good example 
and helpful co-operation there should be any White 
leadership of the Afro-American in the heavenward 
ways of religion and morality. But in what opposite 
ways has much of our Southern White leadership 
taken the poor Negro ! The leadership of impure 
Southern men ! O may God and the Negro forgive it ! 
How much of sad truth there is in these words which 
I quote from the letter of a deeply religious, brilliant 
Southern woman who like this gifted Clergyman also 
kindly read the proofs : "After all it isn't so much the 
'race problem' as it is the world-old 'sin problem,' that 
threatens our Southland, not so much the 'Black Peril' 
that endangers our Anglo-Saxon religion and civiliza- 
tion as it is the peril of impurity, intemperance, selfish- 
ness and greed." 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 65 

Yes, O yes, the Negro does indeed need White 
leadership ! O, how sadly he needs it, but the only 
white leadership that we can give him is that of good 
example and co-operation. Impure white men of the 
South, how about your leadership? Christian men 
and women of the South, how about your co-oper- 
ation? Churchmen, both South and North, if we 
refuse a favorable reply of some kind to our Afro- 
American brethren how will we be co-operating with 
them? The whole of the great Southern objection to 
such a response in spite of the strongest support that 
can be given to it by one of our ablest Clergymen falls 
to the ground and I do not know of any objection 
against the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen and 
the Arkansas Plan of answering it that will stand. If 
we refuse that appeal we withdraw the hand of White 
leadership and lose the greatest opportunity for 
such leadership that ever will be presented to the 
Anglo-American Church. 

The office of a Bishop is indeed a great one, and he 
who desires it desires a good thing, but we are unfair 
to a race, and unfair to many tried and true Negro 
Priests who have the moralization and betterment of 
their people at heart, when we make the allegation 
that they simply "want to have the highest rank of 
the ministry so that they can go North and take 
rank over White Priests." I submit that this reason 
given to the world as our refusal to grant the 
Appeal of our Negro Brethren for Bishops would 
mark us as unjust, unreasonable, illogical, and incapa- 
ble of dealing with such matters as the evangelization 
of the races of the earth. 



6€ The Crucial Kace Question 

My esteemed critic fears that the proposed Afro- 
American Church will repeat the history of African 
Methodism. There are two widely differing classes of 
African Methodist Episcopal Churches. 

i. The schismatic Bethel A. M. E. Church and the 
Zion A. M. E. Churches, of Northern origin, withdrew 
from White Methodism and consecrated their own 
Bishops. Their notorious Africanization and their bit- 
terness towards the Whites are due to this interruption 
of communion. 

2. The Colored M. E. Church, of Southern origin, 
but with a respectable Northern following, represents 
the second type. By mutual consent this Church was 
organized from the loyal colored membership of the M. 
E. Church, South, shortly after the war, and two Negro 
Bishops consecrated by White Bishops. The mother 
Church is proud of the record of the daughter Church, 
giving her counsel and financial support. She main- 
tains two institutions of higher learning for the 
Negroes, and occasionally invites their Bishops to 
address White congregations. This relationship has 
effectually prevented the Africanization which is the 
mournful characteristic of the schismatic African 
Methodist Churches, and has proven most salutary to 
the younger Church which is producing a high class of 
Negro Christians and citizens. 

It is this type of independent Afro-American Church 
that I desire to have duplicated in our communion, and 
I am confident that the Anglo-Catholic would be an 
improvement upon the Anglo-Methodist type of auton- 
omous Colored Church. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Adverse Criticisms of the Church Papers Stated 

and Answered. 

The last Lecture of this book is devoted wholly to 
the answering of objections against the making of 
a favorable reply to the appeal of Afro-American 
Churchmen and the adoption of the Arkansas plan of 
autonomy; but a general survey of such objections in 
these introductory remarks will add to the perspicuity 
and consequently to the interest of the entire book. 
It has occurred to me that this preliminary and 
desirable, if not, indeed, necessary, survey may be 
made to the best advantage by taking a position on 
the opposite side of the one occupied by the editors of 
the Churchman, the Church Standard and the Living 
Church. 



A long and varied experience and wide obser- 
vation as a Missionary have produced in me a most 
profound conviction that the Anglo-American Church 
has no real and permanent mission to Afro-Americans 



68 The Crucial Race Question 

unless it be to give them an autonomous Episcopate 
and Church and in all possible ways to help them in 
its extension and upbuilding. Unless we create such 
an Episcopate and Church and lend it a helping hand, 
so far as that people is concerned, there is no mean- 
ing for us in our Saviour's command : "Go ye into 
all the world and preach the Gospel to every race/' 

May I ask the reader who has been influenced by 
the editorials of the Churchman to cast his lot 
with those who are opposed to the making of 
a favorable reply to the appeal of Afro-American 
Churchmen, to note that "tribe" and "race" are the 
root and primary meanings of the Greek word which 
our translators have rendered "nation." This simple 
little fact invalidates the great argument of the dis- 
tinguished editors of those papers against a racial 
Episcopate, so far as it is based upon the representation 
that legitimately there can be only one branch of the 
Church Catholic in a country. The truth is that there 
may be, and when Christ's command is obeyed there 
will be, as many branches of that Church in this 
country as there are races. And, in some cases, there 
may be autonomous "tribal" as well as "racial" Epis- 
copates and Churches, for, though the Chinese and 
Japanese are of one race they are different tribes, and 
it well may be that, in time, it will appear that if we 
are to go into all the United States part of the world, 
which should be regarded as our special field, and 
preach the Gospel to every "race" and "tribe," we must 
give both of our tribes of the Mongolian race a com- 
plete autonomous ministry. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 69 

The editor of the Churchman has placed the 
powerful influence of his pen and periodical unalter- 
ably against not only the Arkansas plan, but against 
any plan, "Missionary" or "Suffragan," looking towards 
the creation of Afro-American Bishops or any other 
racial Episcopate by the Anglo-American Church. In 
what he has to say in opposition to our plan of 
autonomy he characterizes it as being, in the 
light of the Indian Caste System, too superficial and 
absurd for serious consideration. We must recover our 
child from the ugly gash and bruise of this cut and blow 
and protect it against a repetition of them or it cannot 
survive. Fortunately we can paralyze the right arm 
of our powerful antagonist by hurling against it the 
fact that there is no analogy whatsoever between the 
conditions which confront a missionary in India and 
one in the United States "Black Belt." 

It is true that the Caste System is a great hindrance 
to the spread of Christianity among the Hindoos, 
but, from a missionary point of view, there is very 
little, if anything, in common between the problem 
which the antipathies between the several castes 
present in India, and the Church extension and 
upbuilding problem presented by the race antipathy 
which exists in the United States between the Anglo- 
American and the Afro-American. For in India, caste 
antipathies operate with the result of preventing the 
making of converts to Christianity; but in the United 
States the race antipathy operates, with the result of 
preventing the assimilation by the churches of Negro 
converts. When the representatives of the different 
social castes of India meet in the Church as converts 



70 The Crucial Race Question 

to Christianity the problem has been solved; but when 
representatives of the Negro and Caucasian races 
meet in the American churches their problem in each 
case begins. 

Moreover, our problem in the Episcopal Church 
is rapidly becoming a two-fold one. We have found 
it not only impossible to assimilate our Negro con- 
verts, but it is increasingly difficult to make such 
converts. If present conditions are to continue, our 
problem in the course of a short time will be solved 
in the almost total abandonment of the Church by the 
self-respecting Negro who is not "in it for the loaves 
and fishes." The only way of preventing this unhappy 
solution of the problem is by the creation of an inde- 
pendent, autonomous Afro-American Church. As 
matters now stand the Negroes will not come into the 
Anglo-American Church in any great numbers and we 
cannot assimilate the very few who will come. 

Nor will the analogy by which the editor of the 
Churchman seeks to discredit the Arkansas plan of 
ecclesiastical autonomy for Afro-American Church- 
men stand in the face of the fact that Caucasians and 
the inhabitants of India may be said to be kindred 
peoples while nothing of the kind can be affirmed of 
Anglo-Americans and Afro-Americans. Ethnological 
research conclusively proves that the pure Hindoos 
and Caucasians originally were members not only 
of the Aryan Race, but also of the same family of that 
race. They therefore share with us essentially the 
same intellectual and moral characteristics. "If," as a 
great ethnologist points out, "we style them 'heathen' 
we must remember that they are wise and thoughtful 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 71 

heathen, armed with science and philosophy far above 
onr contempt." 

But, though, if we go back far enough, it may be 
true that the same blood flows in the veins of every 
lepresentative of the human race, yet no one will 
pretend that between the Afro-American and the 
Anglo-American there exists, to even the least degree, 
the latent affinities of their kindredship which bring 
homogeneity within the range of the remotest possi- 
bilities. On the contrary some Biblical and many 
scientific authorities of first rank contend that the 
Negro is a Preadamite, and on this ground, some 
who, like the editor of the Churchman, object to the 
making of a favorable response of any kind to the 
appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Bishops of 
their own, are going so far as to maintain that inas- 
much as the Negro has not Adam and Noah as his 
progenitors he has no part in the Mosaic and Christian 
Covenants, and therefore Christianity has no mission 
to him. 

The editor of the Churchman has never given any 
intimation of his adherence to the Preadamite point 
of view respecting the origin of the Negro, and yet, 
it is really the only ground that one who is against a 
favorable reply to the appeal of Afro-Americans for 
the Episcopate can occupy logically. For surely it will 
not be pretended that, if Christianity is ever to take any 
deep and permanent root among the Hindoos, it will do 
so with an Anglo-Saxon ministry. A native ministry 
for India is universally acknowledged to be an ultimate 
necessity. And yet, the affinity of racial kindredship 
between us is such that an Anglo-Saxon ministry 



72 The Crucial Eace Question 

would stand ten chances of success among the Hindoos 
to one among the Negroes between whom and us there 
is no such affinity to mitigate racial antipathy. It is 
tiue that Hindoos and Caucasians are separated by 
thousands of miles of space and by widely different 
civilizations, which have been growing apart for three 
thousand years, but the radical geneological, physical, 
mental and institutional differentiations between 
Anglo-Americans and Afro-Americans constitute a 
spiritual separation, which is ten times, yes, a thousand 
times, greater than any which exists between one 
Aryan family and another. 



II 



The editor of the Churchman is against, while 
the editor of the Church Standard is for, a favorable 
response to the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen. 
The two editors have had quite a controversy about 
the tenability of their respective positions. Both are 
great philosophers, but unfortunately neither the one 
nor the other is missionary enough to see that prac- 
tically they occupy the same ground ; for the "one 
Bishop, or at the most the two experimental Negro 
Bishops" advocated by the editor of the Church 
Standard would be worth just about as much to the 
cause on behalf of which Afro-Americans are appeal- 
ing to the General Convention, as the "no Negro 
Bishop" advocated by the editor of the Churchman. 
If we are to create to any practical purpose, a Negro 
Episcopate of any kind, suffragan, missionary or 
autonomous, we must start it off with a college of at 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 73 

/east three Bishops for the South and one Bishop for 
the North and the number of Southern Bishops must 
be increased by at least an average of one every year 
during the next decade. Let us not begin to build 
unless we count the cost and are prepared to go ahead 
with the structure. 

The editorials of the Church Standard relating to the 
appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Bishops and 
Jurisdictions of their own have been numerous and, 
from a theoretical point of view, they are very strong. 
The Church Standard has always enjoyed an enviable 
reputation on account of its editorials, a reputation 
which it seems likely to sustain notwithstanding the 
lamented death of Doctor John Fulton, its brilliant 
and versatile founder. Five of Doctor Fulton's artis- 
tically superb editorials, in which he did some of the 
best work of his life, have been reprinted and widely 
circulated under the title, "The Church and the 
Negro." These editorials have had a great influence 
in moulding opinion in the Church in favor of a Negro 
Missionary Episcopate. 

They no doubt had much to do in bringing about 
the remarkable action of the Diocese of Pennsylvania 
which has to be reckoned with in this discussion. That 
Diocese is the greatest "Missionary force" in the 
United States, and naturally it takes a lively interest 
in the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Mis- 
sionary Bishops and Jurisdictions of their own. Its 
Philadelphia Clerical Brotherhood is probably both 
the largest and ablest association of Anglo-Catholic 
Clergymen, with weekly meetings, in the world. It 
has discussed this appeal thoroughly. The Convention 



74 The Crucial Eace Question 

of that Diocese has among its lay members some most 
eminent philanthropists and at least one ecclesiastical 
canonist of first rank. This Convention at its last 
session heard and carefully considered the report on 
the appeal of our colored brethren by a large repre- 
sentative committee appointed at the previous session, 
the members of which had divided the work connected 
with the gathering of the information and the forma- 
tion of the report among sub-committees, all of whom 
labored assiduously throughout the year. 

This exceptionally competent and painstaking com- 
mittee reported almost unanimously in favor of grant- 
ing the appeal and, as might be expected, we have in 
its report at once the most complete data and the 
strongest arguments that ever have or ever can be 
presented on behalf of the affirmative of this crucial 
question. The report will have and, considering its 
source, it ought to have, a great deal of influence upon 
the thought of the Church and the action of the 
General Convention. To my mind the facts and argu- 
ments which are submitted for the purpose of proving 
the necessity of racial Bishops for the work of the 
Church among Afro-Americans are conclusive and I 
shall be surprised if there is much more discussion on 
that part of the question. Dr. Fulton was a member 
of this committee. He had the data collected by it 
before him while writing his editorials and he made 
the most of it. This being the case, in answering his 
skillfully put arguments in so far as they are in favor 
of racial Missionary Bishops and logically against an 
Autonomous Episcopate, we at the same time shall also 
nullify the corresponding parts of the great report 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 75 

presented to the Pennsylvania Convention by its Com- 
mittee. 

■ 

The argument of the editor of the Church Standard 
in favor of a Missionary and against an Autonomous 
Episcopate will be summed up fairly and correctly, I 
think, if he be represented as briefly stating his thesis 
in the following two assertions: (i) The Negro's 
moral condition is largely due to the fact that he is 
left to himself in the independent Methodist and 
Baptist Churches, and (2) the Episcopal Church, by 
reason of the fact that no separation in ecclesiastical 
organization has taken place between the whites 
and the blacks, has done much for the Negroes who 
are identified with her and is in position to do a work 
for the evangelization and elevation of the whole Afro- 
American population which no other body of Chris- 
tians in this country can hope to do so well. 

I. I need hardly remind the considerate reader that 
the treatment which will be given here to these compre- 
hensive assertions is necessarily of a preliminary char- 
acter; nor ask him to look in other connections for a 
more detailed and complete answer to the sweeping 
objections which are raised upon them against our 
proposition to complete the drawing of our ecclesias- 
tical Color-Line by the creation of an autonomous 
Afro-American Episcopate. 

I agree in the conclusion that the moral con- 
dition of the Negro would be greatly improved by 
the establishment of a closer relationship between him 
and the good white people of the South, but my 
contention is that the gulf deplored can be bridged 
only by the drawing of a complete and impassable 



76 The Crucial Race Question 

Color-Line about our social, political and religious 
institutions. 

Before the emancipation the relationship between 
the people of the South was very much closer and, 
from a moral point of view, the average Negro was 
better than he is now. These are undisputed facts. 
But the supposition that the salutary relationship 
which existed in slavery times was in any way to any 
degree connected with anything resembling the eccle- 
siastical unity now existing between colored and 
white churchmen is, I believe, fundamentally wrong. 
Nor does this unity, in my judgment, afford ground 
for congratulation and hopefulness on the part of 
either race concerned. For in reality there is no 
resemblance between that relationship and this unity, 
because the one was due to a most complete drawing 
and recognition of the Color-Line, while the other 
is accounted for by a partial, and so far as the white 
people of the South are concerned, an intolerable 
breaking down of that line. 

Previous to the war, colored Churchmen had no offi- 
cial representation in any Southern Parish or Diocese. 
Their relationship to white Churchmen was that of 
religious wards, and they were ministered to by white 
pastors. But, since then, a colored Priesthood has 
arisen, and with it arose an official relationship and a 
consequent disregard of the Color-Line. This has so 
changed the situation as to make it wholly unlike 
that which previously existed. 

I am not contending that a continuation of the 
relationship of colored and white Churchmen in ante- 
bellum days is possible or even desirable in these 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 77 

post-bellum times. On the contrary, I believe that 
the civil emancipation of the Negro necessarily carried 
with it religious emancipation. And I do not hesitate 
to go further and say that emancipation, whether civil 
or religious, presupposes the right and imposes the 
duty of self-government. 

The issue of the Revolutionary War gave our 
emancipated fathers the right, indeed it imposed upon 
them the necessity of assuming the responsibility of 
both civil and religious government. But, in the case 
of a people situated as the Negro was and is, the 
exercise of this right is inseparably dependent upon an 
exodus. When the Negro became free he had a right 
to leave the United States as the Israelites left Egypt 
and to govern himself; but, if he remained in this 
country he had no right to civil self-government. It 
is indeed true that the party in power at the time of 
the emancipation tried by legal enactments to give the 
Negro the right to self-government without an exodus, 
but their laws were annulled by a law of nature which 
requires either a conquest or a going out as a pre- 
requisite on the part of any enslaved people who would 
govern themselves. 

What is true in respect to the necessity of an 
exodus or a conquest in the case of slaves who would 
govern themselves in civil affairs is equally true of 
religious self-government. A pre-requisite of self- 
government in any sphere is an exodus or a conquest. 
Without an exodus or a conquest there can be no more 
of self-government for the Negro in the Church than 
in the State. In either case, if he remains, any effort 
to take a part in the government means trouble and 



78 The Crucial Eace Question 

a widening of the breach between him and the white 
man. The Negro may continue to live in the United 
States and he may continue to live in the Episcopal 
Church; but by a law of political and ecclesiastical 
economy which is as immutable as the law of gravi- 
tation by which the relationship of the bodies which 
make up the universe is governed, he can never be 
more than a nominal citizen of our country or a 
nominal member of our Church. In other words, 
without an exodus or a conquest the emancipation so 
far as the exercise of the right of self government in 
State or Church is concerned has been and, in the 
nature of things, must continue to be, a failure. 

2. We come now to the second contention of the 
advocates for a continuation of the present order of 
things which is based upon the assumption that by 
reason of the fact that no separation has taken place 
in the ecclesiastical organization, the Episcopal Church 
has done much for the Negroes who are identified 
with her and is in position to do a work for the 
evangelization and elevation of the whole Afro-Amer- 
ican people which no other body of Christians in this 
country can hope to do as well. 

There is much truth in this representation, but 
what there is of it is not correctly accounted for. The 
Church has retained its Negro membership, or rather 
some of the best of it. She has had a remarkable 
influence for good over that membership; and she 
could do more than any other religious body towards 
the moralization of our Afro-American population. 
All this and perhaps even much more is quite true of 
Che Episcopal Church and the Negro. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 79 

But we claim and believe that our contention is 
substantiated by the facts in the case, that the con- 
tinuance of our colored brethren among us and our 
comparatively good influence over them are due to 
the Church's superior system of teaching and to her 
conservative influence which carried the conditions 
of the old regime further into the new than was done 
by say the Baptists and Methodists. It certainly is 
not due in the least degree to any part which Negroes 
have taken in the government of the Episcopal Church, 
and if the prospects of the usefulness of the Church 
to the Afro-American are dependent upon his taking 
an increased part in her government they are very 
slim. Indeed all the facts as well as all the philosophy 
bearing upon the question, point to the conclusion that, 
as matters now stand, in proportion as Negro Church- 
men meddle with the Church's government her spread 
among and influence upon Afro-Americans will be 
checked. 

Thus from every point of view the conclusion is 
forced upon us that if the Episcopal Church is to 
make any great contribution to the evangelization and 
elevation of the Afro-American he must either give up 
all effort at ecclesiastical self-government or he must 
go out from us. If it were felt by both white and black 
Churchmen possible and desirable to restore ante- 
bellum conditions in the Church, our Afro-American 
brethren might remain with us to our mutual good; 
but such a restoration is not thought by anybody to 
be within the range of either possibilities or desira- 
bilities, and this being the case there is no rational 



80 The Crucial Race Question 

course for us to pursue but to give them an autono- 
mous Episcopate and let them go. Things being as 
they are there must be in Negro Churchmen a repeti- 
tion of the history of the Israelites in an exodus. 

The idea that separation means neglect is not 
necessarily true. On the contrary, I am convinced that 
white Baptists and Methodists do a great deal more 
for colored Baptists and Methodists than white 
Churchmen do for colored Churchmen. When I had 
$650.00 with which to extend and develop the Church 
among the Negroes in Arkansas the colored Baptists 
had $14,000 for the same work. The neglect of 
colored people by white Churchmen, under present 
conditions, is astonishing and shameful to a high 
degree. The largest amount that we have ever spent 
in one year for the widening and deepening of the 
Church's influence among them was two-thirds of a 
cent per capita ! Surely no one will argue seriously 
that there would be any more of financial neglect under 
a regime of real Negro ecclesiastical autonomy than 
there has been under his sham participation in our 
government. 

In Arkansas we have had practical autonomy for 
two years. Under the old regime we spent $650.00 
upon the work of the Church among Negroes and it 
was all we needed ; under the new we are spending 
$7,000, and we could use three times this amount to 
a great and good purpose. I am fully persuaded that 
something like this change would take place in every 
Southern Diocese within two years after the conse- 
cration of a sufficient number of autonomous Bishops. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 81 

It may be said that the general adoption of the plan 
now in operation in Arkansas would be all that would 
be necessary to bring about this happy result ; but such 
would not prove to be the case because the Arkansas 
plan is built upon the hope that colored Churchmen 
are soon to have Bishops of their own. 

In conclusion let me say the only argument worthy 
of much serious consideration which can be opposed to 
the Arkansas solution of our problem is the one based 
upon the assumption that Afro-American Churchmen 
are not as yet sufficiently developed morally and intel- 
lectually to make it safe to give them the Episcopate. 
Personally, I do not believe this can be shown to be the 
case, but if the opposers of autonomy succeed in mak- 
ing good their contention, then, I shall be compelled to 
go over to the ground occupied by the Bishop of 
Alabama and help him in his earnest contention that, 
pending the further development of Afro-Americans, 
we should cease the ordination of Negroes to the 
Diaconate and Priesthood. If the Church is to act 
wisely it must either go back to his position or come 
forward to mine. Our positions though separated as 
widely as the East is from the West, are yet in one 
all-important matter essentially the same. We both 
recognize the absolute, indispensable necessity of 
drawing the ecclesiastical Color-Line. Though there 
is a gulf between us it is yet possible for him and me 
to stand united on the Color-Line question. This, 
in reality, is the crucial, the burning, the only real 
question before the Anglo-American Church at this 
time. Either he or I may be right or wrong on the 
subsidiary question upon which we differ as to 
whether or not there shall be, by the creation of an 



82 The Crucial Kace Question 

autonomous Afro-American Episcopate and Church, 
a favorable response to the appeal of our colored 
brethren, but there is no ground between us that can 
be occupied by those who favor Missionary or Suf- 
fragan Negro Bishops ; for we are separated by a gulf, 
and those who try to walk between us are "in the 
air," — perilously so. 

Ill 

The editor of The Living Church is on the 
fence with an inclination to get down on the side 
of those who are in favor of creating some type of the 
Episcopate for Afro-American Churchmen. So far 
as he has given expression to any preference, it has 
been in favor of the Suffragan type. He, like the other 
editors, has no patience with the "Autonomous" idea ! 

The Suffragan Bishops toward which the Living 
Church is inclined, would supply a great need 
of the Church in her work among widely diver- 
sified peoples of the same race, but it would 
be no good in the case of a population composed 
of different races. The Suffragan Episcopate is an 
institution admirably adapted to Northern Dioceses, 
having a conglomerate population so far as it is made 
up of different families of the same race which are 
being assimilated by the dominant or national part of 
the family. Such Dioceses need two or more Bishops 
of the same race, and such Bishops would have enough 
in common to enable them to work together to some 
great and lasting purpose. But the Suffragan Episco- 
pate will not do at all for the Southern Dioceses hav- 
ing a population of two unmixed and unmixable races. 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 83 

In the majority of cases there is no need of Suffragan 
Bishops in Southern Dioceses because the Christian 
White people are so generally of the same family and 
the comparatively very few representatives of other 
families are absorbed so rapidly. But throughout 
the South there are many Jews and there is a great 
Negro population. If the Church wants to do any 
work for the Jews or the Negroes the only way in 
which it can be accomplished is by the creation of 
Israelo-American and Afro-American Episcopates. 
The only purpose which a Suffragan Episcopate could 
serve would be the making of Anglo-American Church- 
men out of the Germans, Swedes and other kindred, 
assimilable peoples. Where there are enough of 
such to make it worth the while, as in Texas, Suffragan 
Bishops would do a good assimilating work. 

Suffragans are essentially and only assimilators and 
this being the -case, they would have no mission to the 
Jew or to the Negro parts of a Southern population, 
for neither of these can ever be assimilated and made 
into Anglo-American Churchmen. If they become 
Churchmen they must in the nature of things, become 
Israelo-American Churchmen and Afro-American 
Churchmen. If we will not make it possible for them to 
become racial Churchmen we might as well give up all 
work among them ; for it has become perfectly certain 
that they will not come into our Anglo-American 
Church, and that if they were to come in any great 
numbers we would not know what to do with them. 
They would be as much of a menace to the peace and 
prosperity of the Church as the "undigested securi- 
ties," to which Mr. Pierpont Morgan has called atten- 
tion, are to the financial stability of the country. 



84 The Crucial Kace Question 

Next to the Arkansas Plan of answering the Appeal 
of the Conference of Church Workers among Colored 
people, the Suffragan idea is to my mind the best solu- 
tion of the problem presented by the Appeal. For it 
takes into account the important factor of race antipa- 
thy. But unfortunately for this suggestion, such racial 
antipathy is about the only factor of the problem that it 
does cover at all, and even here the covering is alto- 
gether insufficient for the beds which it is intended to 
furnish. It fits out the Southern Anglo-American 
Churchman's bed pretty well, but there is nothing left 
for the Afro-American's bed. In fact a Suffragan Epis- 
copate without representation would not give him any 
covering or bed either, and so there would be nothing for 
him to do but to keep on his rags, throw himself down 
on the floor at the foot of the White man's bed with his 
head towards the fire in the grate. This is what he 
has been doing all along, but he is getting tired of it. 
He wants an ecclesiastical bed of his own. 

I cannot and do not blame the Afro-American 
Churchman for his aspiration. It is perfectly natural 
that he should want some comfortable ecclesiastical 
clothing and a well-furnished bed like other people. 
The fault I have to find with him is that, through "the 
Missionary" Episcopate with representation in the 
General Convention, the Afro-American Churchman is 
trying to appropriate the Anglo-American's clothing 
and to get into bed with him. If all our Afro-Amer- 
ican Churchmen lived in Boston, perhaps this proposed 
sharing of the ecclesiastical bed would work, but it 
will not be allowed anywhere south of the Mason and 
Dixon line. White Churchmen down here "kick" every 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 85 

time a Colored Churchman gets up from the fire place 
at the foot of the bed and tries to get into that bed. If 
the Negro should become persistent the kicking be- 
comes correspondingly vigorous, and if the Negro gets 
in one side the White man gets out on the other, and 
lies down on the hearth with his feet to the fire. 

Birds of different feather fly apart almost as natur- 
ally as birds of the same feather flock together. The 
law of segregation which is so observable in the lower 
spheres of animal life works with an intensified force 
as the scale of existence is ascended. This being the 
case, it is unreasonable to expect White and Black 
peoples who are in other respects so widely differ- 
entiated that the representatives of the one naturally 
lie with their heads to the fire, while those of the 
other as naturally turn their feet towards it would 
get along very well in the same ecclesiastical bed. 
Thus if the Negro were to get into our ecclesiastical 
bed, not only would he push us out but he would turn 
the bed around so that the head would be towards the 
fire. That would, among other things, render necessary 
a radical change in our theology ! Respecting this 
encroachment upon, and use of our ecclesiastical bed, 
Southern Churchmen agree with the Tennessee 
mountaineer, who after hearing a Baptist preacher dis- 
course fervidly on the everlasting tortures of hell pro- 
tested : "I tell you, sir, the people won't stand it!" 
I am not among those who sneeringly charac- 
terize the Negro as an "upstart," because he wants to 
get up from the hearth and to get out of his rags into 
suitable clothing and a comfortable ecclesiastical bed. 



86 The Crucial Eace Question 

It is inevitable that this perfectly natural desire should 
develop with those who are making progress in the 
way of civilization and I honor those who have mani- 
fested it in their appeal. But nothing can be done in 
the direction of gratifying this commendable desire 
unless we give much more than is asked for. The 
great law of segregation being what it is and operating 
as it does, I see that it is in the nature of things impos- 
sible that Afro-American Churchmen and Anglo- 
American Churchmen should occupy the same ecclesi- 
astical bed and that, this being the case, it is wrong 
for the Southern Negro to try to get into our bed or 
for the Northern White man to allow him to do so. 
He must have his own bed. That is all there is of it. 
A "Missionary" Episcopate with "representation" in 
the General Convention is therefore out of the ques- 
tion, because it would put birds of different feather 
and birds which turn their heads in different directions 
in the same nest. 

Nor will the Suffragan Episcopate give Afro- 
American Churchmen what they want, and what I 
honor them for wanting, a comfortable ecclesiastical 
bed. In fact such an Episcopate will not do anything 
for them except to make them worse off than they are 
now by denying them the privilege of lying on the 
warm hearth at the foot of the White man's bed. A 
racial ecclesiastical bed is inseparably connected with 
a racial ecclesiastical Episcopate. The "Missionary" 
Episcopate with "representation" in the General Con- 
vention scheme would give Afro-American Church- 
men a precarious place on the outer edge of the White 
man's bed, but the Suffragan Episcopate scheme 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 87 

would not give him the requisite bedstead and cloth- 
ing for a bed. A real Racial Episcopate is an impossi- 
bility without independence. There would be partial 
independence in the proposed representative Mission- 
ary Episcopate but not at all in the suggested non- 
representative Suffragan Episcopate. This form of 
the Episcopate was not intended to give an inde- 
pendent Episcopate to a widely differentiated race. It 
was not intended in theory, and it is impossible in fact, 
to give an independent Episcopate to any class of 
Christians through Suffragan Bishops. A normal 
Suffragan Bishop with representation stands for no 
more in the way of independence than an Archdeacon, 
and an abnormal Suffragan Bishop without representa- 
tion would not stand for nearly as much independence. 
The non-representative Suffragan scheme would not 
get rid of the ecclesiastical monstrosity of "a black 
body with a white head." 

Moreover, if we create the Suffragan form of the 
Episcopate at all we shall, undoubtedly, in the near 
future have two classes of Suffragan Bishops, White 
and Black. The White Suffragans would certainly be 
represented in our Diocesan Conventions and probably 
they would be given seats in the House of Bishops 
without a vote. Anyhow they would be eligible for 
election to the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies 
so that they would be sure to be in one or the other 
House of the General Convention. But the Colored 
Suffragans would not be represented in any way in 
either the Diocesan or General Conventions. A Negro 
Suffragan Episcopate would therefore be nothing 



88 The Crucial Race Question 

more or less than a side-tracked Jim Crow, Ecclesi- 
astical car and besides it soon would be an "empty," 
for Afro-American Churchmen would fall over each 
other in getting out of it. 

No other and better way for further enfeebling and 
demoralizing the Negroes who have been with hope 
long deferred, waiting for our Church to come to their 
rescue, could be devised than the creation of a Negro 
Suffragan Episcopate with no authority, no rights, 
no privileges. There is no way out of the difficulty with 
honor to all, but to grant the appeal of Negro Church- 
men as it stands, or to decline it. In declining it, how- 
ever, we should generously offer something better both 
for them and for us. We should give them an Auton- 
omous Church which will afford them the opportunity 
for self-government and ecclesiastical development. 

The Editor of the Living Church is very apt to ask, 
how about the Catholicity and the Unity of the Church ? 
I very much fear that Schism is the Banquo's ghost of 
the Living Church's Editor, which will give him no rest 
while he remains a Broad Churchman touching the 
great question of racial Bishops now before the Church 
And so I take time by the forelock and answer his 
question in advance by asking another : How can there 
be a schism, a separation, where, in reality, there is no 
unity? Between the colored and white races there is not 
and in the nature of things there cannot be, anything 
like the unity that our "Catholic" brethren are thinking 
of, any more than there can be such unity between 
sheep and deer. There may be a good deal of spiritual 
unity between sheep and deer, but, as they do not 
naturally herd together, there cannot be said to be any 



Answers to Adverse Criticisms 89 

schism between them when, in the pasture or corral, 
they gravitate each kind to themselves. 

Even among the same species of animals different 
varieties or breeds manifest a strong tendency to con- 
sort together. Owing to this natural disposition there 
is very little of social comity between St. Bernard 
dogs and rat-terriers. If dogs had any organizations 
corresponding to State or Church, how absurd it 
would be for some Republican or Catholic-minded dog 
to set up a howl against the sin and danger of schism 
because the rat-terriers and the Newfoundlands mani- 
fested a preference for Kings and Bishops of their 
own breed. 

Bees and ants are said to have queens. Think of a 
swarm of honey-bees choosing a bumble-bee for its 
queen, or a hill of black ants elevating a white or 
red ant to their throne. But to expect honey-bees 
to be satisfied with bumble-bee or black ants with 
white ant queens would be about as reasonable as to 
expect Afro-American Churchmen to be satisfied with 
Anglo-American Bishops. 

It would contribute greatly to the peace of mind of 
the "Catholics" who are troubled by the constant fear 
of schism, if only they would take a more philosophical 
view of the fact that it is just as natural for Afro- 
Americans and Anglo-Americans to have their own 
hives as it is for bumble-bees and honey-bees, and 
for black ants, red ants and white ants, to have 
separate hives and hills. Moreover "Catholics" should 
more deeply consider the fact that if bumble-bees 
and honey-bees, black ants, red ants and white 
ants were crowded together physically into one hive or 



90 The Crucial Race Question 

hill they would be separated spiritually much more 
widely than if they occupied separate hives and hills. 
Spiritual unity, "the communion of Saints," is the 
essential thing in Christian unity and this necessary 
unity would, in the case of Afro-American and Anglo- 
American Churchmen, be hindered rather than pro- 
moted by longer compelling both to live together in 
one ecclesiastical hive. Let us then give these black 
bees a hive of their own and then there will be "some- 
thing doing" in the way of honey-making. 



The Crucial Race Question 



LECTURE II 

The Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 

CHAPTER V. "Aunt Susanna" or the Domestic Color-Line. 
CHAPTER VI. The Social Color-Line. 
CHAPTER VII. The Political Color-Line. 



PREFATORY 

We are living in an age of science, and therefore he who 
advances theories and offers recommendations, in order to secure 
a respectful consideration for them must make certain that they 
have a sufficiently broad and firm scientific foundation. In this 
Lecture, consisting of three chapters, such a foundation is laid 
for the Arkansas Memorial to the General Convention respecting 
the creation of an autonomous Afro-American Episcopate and 
Church. 

I am of course aware that this essay, in justification of the 
Arkansas Plan and in commendation of it for general adoption 
will provoke criticism from both blacks and whites, and inas- 
much as I am primarily concerned with our race problem, so far 
as it touches the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for 
Bishops and Jurisdictions of their own, it will seem to many 
that its omission would have strengthened my main argument 
by avoiding irrelevant controversial matter and by focusing the 
whole attention of the reader upon the real question at issue. 

But I feel that an intelligent discussion of, and a wise action 
upon, the appeal of our colored brethren, involves a thorough pre- 
liminary consideration of the whole problem from every point of 
view. Especially does this appear to be true from the position I 
have taken. For, if I were advocating the creation of either the 
"Missionary" or "Suffragan" colored Episcopate with "represen- 
tation" in the General Convention, it might be assumed by the 
reader that I am opposed to the drawing of the Color-Line at 
least so far as ecclesiastical institutions are concerned. But, 
inasmuch as a large part of my argument in favor of a wholly 
separate, independent and autonomous Negro Episcopate and 
Church is based upon the fact that necessarily and rightfully 
the Color-Line has been drawn already about our Social and 
Political realms, it was highly desirable, if not, indeed, an abso- 
lute necessity, that I should justify what has been done in the 
way of Color-Line drawing and use it as a justification of that 
Avhich is proposed. 

This subject of Color-Line drawing is a very delicate one and 
my critics accuse me of not being tactful and considerate enough 
in my utterances upon it. But, by way of apology for this seem- 
ingly unpardonable neglect, let me explain that I know by 
experience that, speaking generally, Northern people who have 
been constantly in mind are not able to receive the truth con- 
cerning the Race Problem to any profit if it is too heavily sugar- 
coated. Indeed, in many cases, it is absolutely necessary that 
the raw pellets of bitter facts should be administered. 

Nevertheless, in the writing of this essay, I have tried to profit 
by the criticisms which from time to time have been showered 
upon me, and I trust, that I have so far succeeded that now, 
nearly all, will give me credit for speaking the truth, as I under- 
stand it, in love. 



CHAPTER V 

"Aunt Susanna," or the Domestic Color-Line. 

On my initial visitation trip through the Diocese 
of Arkansas I was entertained by a typical Southern 
family. If my memory serves me correctly, and I 
counted accurately, it had nine children ranging from 
the cooing baby to the young lady of sweet six- 
teen. These, from the youngest to the oldest, were 
more or less under the control of "Aunt Susanna.'' 
Indeed this seemed to be true of the parents them- 
selves. I must explain to my Northern readers that 
Aunt Susanna was no ordinary personage. She was 
an "old black mammy" of the kind that we read about 
in the charming stories of Southern plantation life, 
in "de good ole times befo' de war." I never could 
understand or believe those stories until I had taken 
in this family what I may call my First Lesson in the 
Great American Race Problem. 

No Northern man who takes up his residence in 
the South remains long before taking his first lesson 
in this problem. I have always congratulated 
myself that it was my pleasant lot to begin my educa- 
tion relative to it under the hospitable roof of one of 
the loveliest of all the families in the whole extensive 
circle of my acquaintance, by witnessing the signs of 
mutual affection which existed between the children in 
it and that swarthy, wrinkled, homely old Negress. 
I could hardly believe my eyes. Sometimes there were 



94 The Crucial Race Question 

as many as three around her, hugging and kissing her 
with as much devotion as at other times they hugged 
and kissed their beautiful and charming mother. 

And not only did Aunt Susanna receive this treat- 
ment from the children in the most natural, matter-of- 
course fashion, but the parents treated her with an 
urbane kindness which would have been gratifying to 
any near and beloved relative of the family. I could 
not help contrasting the treatment that she received 
with that which is generally the lot of white servants 
at the North. She was serving for love, and she was 
getting her pay in good measure, pressed down and 
running over. Moreover she knew that when she 
could serve no longer she would never want for love 
or for the necessities of life as long as a member of 
that family lived or had a crust to divide with her. 

For some time after taking up my residence in the 
South, I felt like a sojourner in a foreign land. Wisely 
I determined not to know quite everything about the 
unique features of my adopted country until I had 
lived amid its strangely new environments for at least 
three months ! This was a fortunate resolve, for, 
otherwise, I should have concluded hastily and 
wrongly that here, in this lovely, exemplary Christian 
family, was at least one place where the Color-Line 
was not drawn. But I have long since learned to 
know, that, though I did not see the Color-Line, it 
nevertheless existed and was recognized by all con- 
cerned, just as much as it had been when "mammy" 
was a slave. The fact that she recognized this line 
as clearly since the Emancipation as before, explained 
the circumstance that there was no gulf of separation 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 95 

between the white people with whom she lived and 
herself, or rather it accounts for the fact that the gulf 
which naturally and unavoidably exists was bridged 
completely. 

This, then, was my first lesson in the great and 
perplexing Race Problem: In order to bridge the 
gulf between the white and colored people of the 
South, the Color-Line must be recognized. Much of 
my subsequent reasoning and action has been based 
upon what I learned in that lesson. I saw at once 
dimly, as by star-light, what subsequent observation 
and investigation have enabled me to see clearly, as 
by the light of the sun at noonday, that the ideal rela- 
tionship of the "old black mammy" to that white 
mother and her children, would not, and in the nature 
of things could not, exist, but for the recognition of 
the Color-Line and all that goes with it. 

It is the failure to recognize the Color-Line which, 
more than anything else, accounts for the difference 
between the relationship of the younger generation 
of Negroes to the white people and that of the "old- 
time darky" of which Aunt Susanna is a representa- 
tive. This failure also, in a large degree, accounts 
for the awful degeneration which has taken place in 
the moral and physical condition of the Southern 
Negro. 

This first lesson led to reflections which in the 
course of time developed into the six fundamental 
convictions which constitute the thesis of this book: 
(i) No race can amount to anything without self- 
government. (2) The only realm in which the Negro 
in these United States can hope to govern himself is 



96 The Crucial Eace Question 

that of religion. (3) Under present conditions the 
American Negro, speaking generally, is degenerating 
morally and physically instead of advancing to- 
wards civilization. (4) The Afro-American can be 
saved from utter ruin and extinction only by the 
bridging of the ever-widening and deepening gulf 
which now exists between him and the Anglo-Amer- 
ican. (5) This necessary bridging cannot be done 
without the drawing and recognition of the Color-Line 
around the Social, Political and Religious Realms, and 
(6) the necessity for self-government and for the 
bridging of the gulf between Anglo-Americans and 
Afro-Americans by the drawing of the Color-Line, 
makes it necessary that x\merican Negroes should 
have wholly independent or autonomous Churches. 

Of course the holding of these convictions forced 
upon me the determination to do what I could to create 
a separate Diocesan Convocation to which the Min- 
isters and Lay Delegates of the colored Parishes and 
Missions should belong, and to exclude them from a 
seat and voice in the Diocesan Council. The first step 
looking to this separation was taken upon my recom- 
mendation at our 1903 Council, but the goal could not 
be reached until 1905. It is, as has been indicated, 
my purpose in this book to make it appear that our 
great national Church should follow the example of 
the little Diocese of Arkansas. 

Another thing which I learned in the happy family 
of which Aunt Susanna was an important member is 
the fact that, quite contrary to the opinion which 
prevailed in that part of Ohio from which I came and 
in the North generally, the Southern people have a 
much deeper interest in, and affection for, the Negro 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 97 

than have Northerners. It is indeed true that thev 
regard themselves as the superior and dominant race, 
and that they enforce the recognition of this distinc- 
tion, but they do this in as conciliatory a way as possi- 
ble. And I here want to say with all the emphasis 
that I can put into my words, that in the recognition 
of this claim, socially, politically and even religiously , t 
lies the salvation of the colored and the safety of the 
white races. He who encourages either the white 
man or the black to repudiate and disregard it is an 
enemy to both races. There is not the slightest doubt 
in my mind that the shocking deterioration of the 
American Negro since the war is largely if not indeed 
almost wholly due to the influence of scheming poli- 
ticians, and of well-meaning but mistaken philan- 
thropic theorists who have encouraged him to lose 
sight of the most salutary and necessary distinctions 
made by the Southern people. 

The change that has taken place in the relationship of 
the races at the South is well illustrated by the recent 
experience of the family of which I have been speak- 
ing. Aunt Susanna, on account of age and infirmity, 
was obliged about twelve months ago to abdicate her 
throne in the kitchen and nursery. She had ruled in 
those domains to the great comfort of all her contented 
and affectionate subjects since the death of her pre- 
decessor, seventeen years before. Her sway had been 
supreme. Indeed so far as the kitchen was concerned 
she was as much of a tyrant as was ever a Roman Dic- 
tator or Emperor. She proceeded upon the theory that 
"too many cooks spoil the broth" and Miss Ruth, 
as she called the mother of the children and the 



98 The Crucial Race Question 

nominal head of the family, was allowed to enter 
that -sanctum only upon the rarest occasions as a 
special favor. But, within the year since Aunt 
Susanna was obliged to abdicate, she has had nineteen 
successors, if indeed successors they may be called, 
and poor Miss Ruth has spent much of her time 
with them in the kitchen ! 

All the whites and old blacks are agreed that 
the true and only explanation of this change is 
found in the lamentable degeneration of the 
Negro ; and at least the Whites are in unity 
in the belief that the rapid and portentous de- 
terioration which has taken place in the colored 
people since their emancipation is due to false and 
unattainable ideals regarding political and social 
equality, or in other words, it is due to the disregard 
of the Color-Line. 

It is highly desirable, if not indeed indispensable, 
that there should be made at this point a statement 
in unmistakable terms of just what the root of the 
whole matter of our race difficulty is. It is simply 
this: A disregard of the Color-Line, as it is general- 
ly drawn in the South by either of the races con- 
cerned. It is this disregard by one or the other race 
that is the chief cause of all the trouble, that 
makes up the whole sad, perplexing problem. 
This being the case, it follows as a necessary conclu- 
sion that the solution of this problem, by common 
consent the greatest that is likely to confront the 
American people in the whole course of the Twentieth 
Century, is the drawing and recognition of the Color- 
Line by the two races around their respective Social, 
Political and Religious realms. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Social Color-Line. 



As for the Social Realm, there never was any ques- 
tion among white people in the South and really there 
is no longer any question among them at the North as 
to whether or not the Color-Line should be drawn. 
Practically the Color-Line always has been drawn 
about the family and social circles at the North as 
well as the South. Before the war, and for some time 
afterwards, when there was a great deal of bitterness 
and unreasonableness on both sides, some wild North- 
ern theorists maintained that the repugnance of 
Southerners to the intermarrying of blacks and 
whites was based upon unchristian prejudice, and in 
heated controversies foolish parents were heard to 
say that, other things being equal, they would as 
soon have their daughters marry colored as white 
men. Once in a while a fanatic among abolitionist 
orators, like Wendell Phillips, would go so far as 
actually to recommend the amalgamation of the races 
as a duty : "Remember this, the youngest of you," said 
Mr. Phillips, "that on the fourth day of July, 1868, 
you heard a man say that, in the light of all history, 



100 The Crucial Race Question 

in virtue of every page he ever read, he was an 
amalgamationist to the utmost extent. I have no hope 
for the future, as this country has no past, but in that 
sublime mingling of the races which is God's own 
method of civilizing and elevating the world/' 

But all the generation of foolish people who were of 
this way of thinking and speaking has died out or is 
rapidly doing so, and anyhow they never did practice 
the silly and sickening doctrine that they preached. 
They were excited controversialists and ravingly 
uttered what white people now universally regard as 
nonsense. Though Mr. Wendell Phillips was one of 
the leading abolitionists with a tremendous following, 
and, though he died as late as 1884, he has but few 
disciples in our day and they are "Rip Van Winkles/' 
who would be hooted to silence were they to attempt 
to give expression to their Master's sentiments, even 
at the foot of the monument of William Lloyd Garri- 
son in the city of Boston itself. 

The strong, irresistible tendency of the God- 
implanted race prejudice to assert itself in the draw- 
ing of the Color-Lines is manifested in the change of 
sentiment that is taking place even in New England, 
as evidenced by the utterances of such representative 
men as the Bishop of Massachusetts and President 
Eliot, of Cambridge University. The one is the first 
man in the religious and the other in the intellectual 
metropolis of both American Puritanism and Aboli- 
tionism, and, moreover, both are social aristocrats who 
no doubt can trace their lineage through a long line of 
the bluest of the blue bloods to ancestors who landed 
on Plymouth Rock. These most representative men 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 101 

are saying, I heard one of them say, that "the atti- 
tude of a person towards the question of Color-Line 
drawing is determined by the number of Negroes in 
his community rather than by the location of his 
residence, North or South." Both of these dis- 
tinguished men evidently believe, and indeed they 
publicly have expressed themselves to this effect, 
that existing conditions and tendencies even in Boston 
point to a time, which in their judgment is probably 
in no very distant future, when segregation in the 
churches and schools will have become a recognized 
necessity, to such a degree as to make it a political 
issue. 

Such a confession from such men of such a city in 
such a country really leaves nothing to be said by 
Southerners in justification of Color-Line drawing. 

And if proof were needed to show that these leading 
New Englanders know what they are talking about, 
and that they correctly represent a widespread and 
growing sentiment, it is found in the fact that the 
managers of hotels and the keepers of boarding houses 
do not fall over each other in a scramble to secure 
as their guests distinguished Negroes who come to 
Boston Town. Indeed there is an ugly rumor to the 
effect that the committee on hospitality for our 1904 
General Convention could not get the Bishop of Cape 
Palmas into any public lodging place and were obliged 
to turn him over to a colored man of wealth who, upon 
being told of their embarrassment, offered to relieve 
them of it by extending to the Bishop a cordial invi- 
tation to become his guest. This astonishing and, 
at least uncharitable, if not slanderous rumor may 



102 The Crucial Eace Question 

do, probably it does, a great wrong to Bostonian 
consistency, and yet, without lifting the veil by a too 
careful inquiry from a matter which if found to be true 
would cause the illustrious Garrison to turn over in 
his grave, I am perfectly convinced that, incredible as 
it may seem, it has some slight foundation in actual 
fact! 

But Northern objectors to Color-Line drawing of 
whom there are a few remaining will remind me that, 
whatever may have been the case in times gone by, 
New York is now in fact as well as in name the 
Empire State, and that her great metropolis rather 
than that of Massachusetts is really the place in which 
the question of Color-Line drawing ultimately will be 
settled. She, I will be told, is one of the greatest and 
one of the most cosmopolitan among all cities of either 
ancient or modern times. And the candid must 
confess that there certainly never has been and there 
is not now a city on earth which is less a respecter of 
persons, than is Greater New York. If proof is desired 
for the representation that the spirit of human equal- 
ity has shifted its abode from Boston town to New 
York City it will be found in the fact that while the 
Commonwealths of New England have been adding 
limiting clauses to their franchise enactments, the 
Empire State has been passing leveling laws, which 
are intended to place all its citizens without respect 
of racial, national or other differentiating features 
upon the same plane, providing only, that he who 
would take advantage of these laws is the fortunate 
possessor of a great big, round, shining, silver dollar or 
a crisp, green bank note of equal valuation. 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 103 

There is some good blood in New York City, as 
well as in Boston Town, especially Dutch blood ; but 
blood in New York does not count for as much as in 
Boston. In fact in New York City there is nothing 
that counts for much except money. Here perhaps 
of all places on this earth the man who has a dollar, 
irrespective of other accidental or providential cir- 
cumstances, such as previous condition of servitude, 
race or color, might naturally expect a Rooseveltian 
"square deal." The spirit of New York City naturally 
has permeated the whole State. This is so much the 
case that its legislature a few years ago actually 
decreed that the managers of hotels, restaurants, 
theaters, baths and other places, open for public hospi- 
tality, refreshment and entertainment, should welcome 
and treat all alike who had the money to pay for what 
they had to offer. Here then the Dollar-Line has been 
drawn for the purpose of preventing the drawing of 
the Color-Line. 

* 

Nevertheless the Color-Line is drawn in New York 
City almost as closely as in Massachusetts or even in 
Arkansas. For, though a Negro's pockets may be burst- 
ing with the silver dollars that count for so much at the 
Metropolis, let him apply for a room at any first-class 
hotel and the clerk will tell him "we are full up." He is 
hungry and before starting out in the vain search of a 
hotel which has unoccupied rooms, he goes with his 
bag, umbrella and silk hat in hand to the restaurant, 
but he finds all the waiters so busy that they cannot 
get to him for a half hour, and when they have 
exhausted all excuses for further delay, they serve him 
in such a way with such stuff, that he is not very 
likely to return for his breakfast. 



104 The Crucial Race Question 

Under the New York law, which is supposed to pro- 
tect the Negro from Color-Line distinctions in all 
public places, representatives of the race have insti- 
tuted and won several suits for damages, but, in spite 
of every effort to prevent it, the metropolitan Negro 
finds that the Color-Line is being more and more 
closely drawn, and that it is becoming increasingly 
difficult to cross that line without the most annoying 
and humiliating embarrassment. 

New York City is the greatest Dollar center in the 
world. It is as much of an attraction to the rich as the 
magnetic poles are to the needle of the compass. When 
a man's purse begins to burst with dollars he almost 
resistlessly gravitates to New York. This is equally 
true of white, yellow and black people. Yes, New 
York is the Mecca of the rich. The richest aggrega- 
tion of colored people in the United States lives in 
New York and the richest congregation of colored 
Christians in all the world is St. Philip's Episcopal 
Church, New York. But the dollars of the members 
of this opulent Negro congregation in New York City 
where the dollar looms up as far above everything 
else as the sky-scraper above the church steeple, 
have not prevented the Color-Line from being drawn. 



II 



Dr. Booker Washington has taken his stand upon 
the Dollar-Line, and those whom he serves so well have 
founded under the shadow of his name an educational 
institution of wonderful dimensions upon the idea that 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 105 

if Negroes will acquire the intelligence and the indus- 
trial skill which will enable them to pile up heaps of dol- 
lars all about them, the shimmering of the sun of finan- 
cial prosperity upon them will cause a gradual fading 
and ultimate disappearance of the Color-Line. But why 
cannot the idealists among our philanthropists who 
are so generously backing the people who are so suc- 
cessfully using Dr. Washington see in the light of the 
experience of the rich Negroes in the great Dollar 
Metropolis that there is nothing under heaven that can 
prevent the drawing of the Color-Line or accomplish 
the obliteration of it ! Everything that the wit of man 
could put forward has failed utterly to do this: the 
Emancipation, the Fifteenth Amendment, Religion, 
Education, and even the almighty dollar. All these 
have failed to get rid of the Color-Line and everything 
else that may be tried, even a Missionary or Suffragan 
Episcopate, will fail. In the very nature of things 
there seems to be a law the resistless operation of 
which renders it inevitable that an ineradicable and 
impassable Color-Line be drawn around our social, 
civil and religious institutions. 

The attempt is being made just now to prevent the 
operation of this natural law, so far as our Anglo- 
American Catholic Church is concerned, by the creation 
of an Afro-American Missionary Episcopate ; but it, 
like all other endeavors of a similar kind, is doomed to 
failure, as necessarily so as would be any efforts that 
men might be foolish enough to make to dam up the 
waters of Niagara Falls. 

The Anglo-Saxon branch of the Aryan Race is 
happily exceedingly jealous of its blood. The Southern 



106 The Crucial Eace Question 

part of the American branch of our race is especially 
guarded against the introduction of Negro blood into 
its veins. It is, indeed, true that many Mulatto 
children throughout the South bear witness to the 
shameful mixture of Anglo-Saxon with African blood, 
but they are all born of Negro women by impure 
white men who are degenerates. The white women of 
the South are pure. They are a high-minded, proud, 
spotless race. If they were not this, the Anglo-Saxon 
people in America would rapidly degenerate into a low- 
grade, mongrel breed, and that would be the end of 
American civilization, and the beginning of barbarism. 

Among the many remarkable passages in Professor 
Smith's scientific work entitled, "The Color-Line" is 
one which so strongly supports the position I take 
in this lecture and throughout the book that I quote 
as much from it as my space will admit of: "It," says 
the Professor, "was because the Anglo-Saxon so 
cherished this feeling that he refused to amalgamate 
with the Indians — a proud, and in some ways superior 
race — but drove them relentlessly, and often, it may be, 
unrighteously before him into the sea. It was just 
because the Spaniard, though otherwise proud enough, 
did not cherish this feeling, that he did amalgamate 
with the victims of his greed and descend into the 
hopeless depths of hybridization. 

"Futile is the reply, so often made by our opponents, 
that miscegenation has already progressed far in the 
Southland, as witness millions of Mulattoes. Cer- 
tainly; but do not such objectors know in their hearts 
that their reply is no answer, but is utterly irrelevant? 
We admit and deplore the fact that unchastity has 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 107 

poured a broad stream of white blood into black veins ; 
but we deny, and perhaps no one will affirm, that it has 
poured even the slenderest appreciable rill of Negro 
blood into the veins of the white race. We have no 
excuse whatever to make for these masculine incontin- 
encies ; we abhor them as disgraceful and almost 
bestial. But, however degrading and even unnatural, 
they in no wise, not even in the slightest conceivable 
degree, defile the Southern Caucasian blood. That 
blood today is absolutely pure ; and it is the inflexible 
resolution of the South to preserve that purity, no 
matter how dear the cost. We repeat, then, it is not a 
question of individual morality, nor even of self- 
respect. He who commerces with a Negress debases 
himself and dishonors his body, the temple of the 
Spirit; but he does not impair, in any wise, the dignity 
or integrity of his race ; he may sin against himself and 
others and even against God, but not against the germ 
plasma of his kind. ^ 

"Just here we must insist that the South, in this 
tremendous battle for the race, is fighting not for her- 
self only, but for her sister North as well. It is a great 
mistake to imagine that one can be smutched and the 
other remain immaculate. Up from the Gulf regions 
the foul contagion would let fly its germs beyond the 
lakes and mountains. The floods of life mingle their 
waters over all our land. Generations might pass 
before the darkening tinge could be seen distinctly 
above the Ohio, but it would be only a question of 
time. The South alone would suffer total eclipse, but 
the dread penumbra would deepen insensibly over all 
the continent." 



108 The Crucial Eace Question 

And Professor Winchell, an equally great scientist, 
and perhaps a greater authority upon ethnical ques- 
tions, at the conclusion of a similar noble protest 
against the capital crime of miscegenation severely 
criticises its advocates and points out that the 
examples they give of the benefits of racial amal- 
gamation are inapplicable in the case of inter-mar- 
riage between an Afro-American and Anglo-American 
because 'they are not examples of race-mixture, but 
only of different family stocks of the white race, and 
he observes that the commergence of the white and 
the black races in America might promote the advance 
of the black race, by annihilating it; "but what," he 
indignantly asks, " of the interest of the white race, and 
the civilization which it alone has created? The policy 
would set back humanity, so far as America is con- 
cerned, to the position which it occupied before Adam 
— before the long struggle of contending forces had 
developed a race capable of science and philosophy, 
and evolved a civilization to which no other race ever 
aspired. It would be to hurl back the ethnic pearls 
selected with long-continued labor and risk, into the 
all-concealing ocean of humanity." 

As the question of miscegenation bears such a close 
relation to the subject of this essay and is of such 
vital importance to the American people, I shall quote 
another eminent authority in support of the contention 
upon which so much of our argument is rested. Mr. 
James Bryce, the historian, and the author of the 
"American Commonwealth," in his 1902 Romanes 
Lecture cautiously but significantly says: "Where 
two races are physiologically near to one another, the 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 109 

result of the intermixture is good. Where they are 
remote, it is less satisfactory, by which I mean that 
it is not generally and evidently better than the lower 
stock. The mixture of whites and Negroes, or of 
whites and Hindus, or of the American aborigines and 
Negroes, seldom show good results. The hybrid 
stocks, if not inferior in physical strength to either 
of those whence they spring, are apparently less per- 
sistent, and might — so at least some observers hold — 
die out if they did not marry back into one of the 
parent races. Usually, of course, they marry back into 
the lower. 

"The two general conclusions which the facts so far 
as known suggest are these : that races of marked 
physical dissimilarity do not tend to intermarry, and 
that when and so far as they do, the average offspring 
is apt to be physically inferior to the average of either 
parent stock, and probably more beneath the average 
mental level of the superior than above the average 
mental level of the inferior. Should this view be 
correct, it dissuades any attempt to mix races so 
diverse as are the white European and the Negroes. 

"The matter ought to be regarded from the side 
neither of the white nor of the black, but of the future 
of mankind at large. Now for the future of mankind 
nothing is more vital than that some races should be 
maintained at the highest level of efficiency, because 
the work they can do for thought and art and letters, 
for scientific discovery, and for raising the standard 
of conduct, will determine the general progress of 
humanity. If therefore we were to suppose the blood 
of the races which are now most advanced to be 



110 The Crucial Bace Question 

diluted, so to speak, by that of the most backward, 
not only would more be lost to the former than would 
be gained to the latter, but there would be a loss, 
possibly an irreparable loss, to the world at large 
The moral to be drawn from the case of the South- 
ern States seems to be that you must not, how- 
ever excellent your intentions and however admirable 
your sentiments, legislate in the teeth of facts." 

These representations of scientific men of the 
highest class, together with those of the great ethnol- 
ogist, Prof. Keane, who wrote the article "Negro" for 
the Encyclopedia Brittannica, should cause every 
Anglo-American to thank God daily for the fact that 
the law of nature which so severely punishes the cross- 
ing of the Color-Line in the commingling of bloods 
has not been broken at all in the South, or to any 
noticeable degree in the North, and it should cause the 
Negro to institute some effective measure of prevent- 
ing white villains from the further contamination of 
his blood. This awful crime of the white man in the 
light of all observation means the extinction of the 
Negro by a terrible type of murder which destroys 
both body and soul. To quote Professor Smith again : 
The general inferiority of mixed stock has passed into 
a proverb even in Africa, where it is said: 'A god 
created the whites ; I know not who created the blacks ; 
certainly a devil created the mongrels.' " 



CHAPTER VII 

The Political Color-Line. 



The question as to whether or not the Color-Line 
shall be drawn around the realm of our political insti- 
tution is answering itself. Except during that memor- 
able "reign of terror," euphemistically denominated the 
"Reconstruction Period," the Negro never had any 
real part with the Anglo-Saxon in the government of 
this country. Ever since then the process of elimin- 
ating the Afro-American from even a semblance 
of influence and power in politics has been going on ; 
and there are Northerners, not a few, as well as 
Southerners, many of the first rank, who have reached 
the firm conviction that it would be for the great good 
of both races if this process were completed by the 
unconditional repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment, the 
enactment of which they believe was a great wrong 
to both the whites and blacks, and especially to the 
latter. 

Throughout the North this Amendment, at the 
time of its enactment was generally supposed among 
Republicans to be "the Magna Charta of the American 
Negro," but, so far, history has shown it to have been 



112 The Ceucial Race Question 

rather his "Death Warrant." So evident is this thai 
many Northern men, Republicans even, and a few 
Negroes, both North and South, are seeing and 
admitting that as matters now stand, and are likely to 
remain for generations, there is absolutely nothing 
in politics for the Afro-American except a snare and 
a delusion and that, at least for a long time to come, 
he will find himself to be leaning upon a broken reed 
whenever he tries to make use of it as a staff to help 
him up to the higher planes upon which he has fixed 
his eyes. 

Northern Democrats and Dr. Washington hold out 
the prize of membership in our body politic as the 
reward to be realized in the more or less distant future 
for educational, industrial and commercial achieve- 
ments. But many think that, though this is a much 
more refined and plausible error than that for which 
the Republican Party, Professor DuBois, and the 
majority among Negroes stand it, nevertheless is really 
the same fundamental and ruinous error which is the 
tap root of all the trouble between the races. 

Dr. Washington and Northern Democrats very 
clearly show that, under present conditions, the 
Republican way of holding out the prize of political 
equality is a wrong to the Negro because it cannot be 
delivered or attained in that way. Their argument is 
that the Republican Party cannot fulfill its promise in 
the Fifteenth Amendment, among other reasons, 
because it has come widely to be recognized at the 
North that the Negro is not yet qualified to take a 
helpful part in the political affairs of the country ; but 
that, when he does become fit to do so, the Democrats, 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 113 

North and South, should allow the Republican prize 
of Negro Suffrage and even of political dominance, 
where the blacks outnumber the whites, to be awarded. 
This is a very plausible, misleading and ruinous argu- 
ment which will receive fuller consideration in another 
connection ; but let me here insist that it is based upon 
the false promise of race equality or the disregard of 
the Color-Line, and, therefore, there is nothing in it 
for the poor Negro but bitter disappointment and 
further degradation. 

And as a matter of fact there really is no sense in 
which Afro-Americans can claim the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment as their Magna Charta, for it was not obtained 
in the way that any such bill of rights which has ever 
amounted to anything to its possessors was acquired. 
The great Declarations of Rights by which English- 
men cast off the yoke of the Roman Papacy and 
Americans that of the British Crown were based 
upon the determination not to endure further wrong 
and the power to resist its continued imposition. But 
the Fifteenth Amendment by which the American 
Negro claims the right of a share in the government 
of these United States does not rest upon the splendid 
pillar of the heroic spirit of independence that is 
founded upon the rock of intellectual and physical 
power. The Negro seems to be sadly lacking in this 
spirit and power. 

An evidence of the Negro's defectiveness in these 
supremely important respects is found in the very 
appeal of Afro-American Churchmen with which this 
essay is concerned. Imagine, if such a thing is possi- 
ble, a reversal of the relationship which has existed 



114 The Crucial Eace Question 

between the Anglo-American and the Afro-American. 
Could it have entered the head of an Anglo-American 
Churchman who had been crowded out of the Parochial 
and Diocesan organizations of the Afro-American 
Church to suggest an appeal for a "Missionary" Epis- 
copate with "representation" in the colored General 
Convention? No, indeed; the only thing that could 
satisfy Anglo-American Churchmen under such condi- 
tions would have been an exodus. There would 
be an imperative demand for Racial Bishops and 
freedom to go out and to set up an entirely inde- 
pendent, autonomous Church. I am almost tempted to 
contend that a "Missionary" Episcopate should not be 
granted to any race, and that the offer of it to any self- 
respecting people situated as the Afro-American is 
should be regarded as an insult. 

Nor will the gaining of the Missionary Episcopate 
be to Afro-American Churchmen what the Magna 
Charta is to the great Anglo-Catholic Communion of 
Christians. The first provision of that renowned docu- 
ment runs "The Church of England shall be free and 
hold her rights entire and her liberties inviolate." 
Afro-American Churchmen have been humiliated by 
Anglo-American Churchmen as Englishmen never 
had been by Pope or King and yet there is nothing 
like a Magna Charta ring to their appeal to the General 
Convention for "Missionary" Bishops with "repre- 
sentation" in the General Convention of Anglo-Amer- 
ican Churchmen. As there has been nothing in the 
Fifteenth Amendment but humiliation for the Negro, 
so there would be nothing more for him in the granting 
of the Episcopate for which he is asking. 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 115 

But what will prove conclusively to all candid people- 
that the Fifteenth Amendment is not in any real and 
true sense a Magna Charta, is the fact that it has not 
had the effect of a real charter of liberty and was 
not designed to have any such effect. Both the Amer- 
ican and English Charters of Liberty had as their 
primary object national independence. So much was 
this the case with the American Charter that it is 
called the Declaration of Independence, and the day 
on which it was promulgated is known as Independ- 
ence Day. In the case of England's Charter its key- 
note is a ringing word of the same import as inde- 
pendence, "free." To the English people the Magna 
Charta was the banner under which they com- 
menced and continued the glorious battle by which 
they freed themselves from the tyranny of Kings and 
Popes, and established a constitutional government in 
State and Church which has issued in the mightiest 
civil and religious empire that the world has ever 
known. And to the American Colonists the Declara- 
tion of Independence was the standard around which 
they fought and won their freedom from the tyranny 
of the mother country and about which they built this 
glorious Republic which rivals the Mother herself as 
an overshadowing world's power. 

Does, then, anybody see the slightest resemblance 
between the actual or potential effects of the Fifteenth 
Amendment and the great liberty charters of the 
Anglo-Saxon peoples? The difference between it and 
them, which is as wide as the east is from the west, 
appears in the very prepositions which are used in 
connection with them. In the case of our charters we 



116 The Crucial Eace Question 

say freedom "from" enduring something. In the case 
of their amendment freedom "to" do or be something. 

Again the difference of which we are speaking 
appears perhaps even more significantly in the verbs 
that are used in references to the foundations upon 
which the Anglo-Saxon liberty charters and the Afro- 
American franchise Amendments respectively rest. 
The Charters stand for liberties that were won by 
patriotic peoples that were of one heart and mind, the 
Amendments for "privileges" that were "given" by a 
scheming political party. There is, then, at the 
bottom, nothing in common, absolutely nothing, 
between the Fifteenth Amendment and the great 
Charters of Liberty which indicate the steep, rough 
and blood-stained roads by which the Anglo-Saxons 
have reached the highest planes and mountain peaks of 
civilization and power that have so far been scaled and 
occupied. 

The South as well as the North is the White Man's 
Country. There is a great deal of real, deep philos- 
ophy in this assertion which is so often on the lips of 
Southerners when their right to the exclusive handling 
of the political reins is questioned by Northerners. 
The black man, owing to the inevitable influence of 
what is known as race prejudice or pride must always 
be content with political insignificance. 

Not only can the Negro never secure a firm foothold 
in American politics, but unless he altogether with- 
draws from the political field soon and permanently, 
he must, slowly perhaps, but, nevertheless, surely, 
perish from among us. For if he does not take his 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 117 

eyes away from the false ideals which mistaken phil- 
anthropists and scheming politicians are holding up 
before him, he will lose his place in the industrial 
field of the South, and then he will go the way of the 
"Poor Indian." The chief reason why the American 
Indian is dying out, or at least sinking into utter 
insignificance, is to be found in the fact that he will not 
work. The Negro has fared better than the Indian 
because, and only because, he has worked more, and 
therefore has had a greater industrial value; but indus- 
trially, as in some other important respects, speaking 
generally, he, as we have seen, is degenerating. If this 
degeneration continues, there is no future for him as a 
race in this country, and it will continue as long as he 
seeks political, or social, or ecclesiastical equality. 

The rapidly developing new South requires a new 
and better labor, new and better as to both skill and 
reliability. The Negro labor today is neither skilled 
nor reliable enough to hold its own, and it will never 
become so until the Negro directs his attention away 
from the higher educational and political fields and 
turns it chiefly towards the industrial field. 

For the sake of giving greater emphasis to the funda- 
mental truth upon which I am here dwelling, a truth 
which is the basis of much of my argumentation in 
favor of an autonomous Negro Episcopate, suppose we 
admit that the Afro-American is making all the pro- 
gress in education and thrift of which Doctors Wash- 
ington and DuBois tell us : nevertheless if he does 
not give up politics, it will turn out to be only 
another way to his destruction. For, I reiterate, the 
South is a White Man's Country, and that is true in 



118 The Ceucial Eace Question 

even those sections where there is only one white 
man to ten colored men. There is scarcely a white 
man in the South, even though he be of Northern 
birth and a Republican, who would not shed his 
blood rather than to see the Negro dominate again in 
politics. Therefore, if education and wealth really are 
being acquired rapidly and generally by the Southern 
Negro, and if the acquisition of them is to lead to 
any serious attempt to carry out Booker Washington's 
program of political equality, to say nothing about Pro- 
fessor DuBois' program of social equality, there is a 
race conflict brewing which will ultimately issue in his 
extermination. For the American Negro all political 
equality and social equality roads will sooner or later 
be found to lead to the Rome of his destruction. 

Race prejudice being a deep-rooted, God-implanted 
instinct, it is inevitable that either the white or the 
black race will ultimately occupy the political field of 
this country to the practical exclusion of the other. If 
the black race were more nearly the equal of the white 
in numerical, physical and intellectual strength, the 
question of political dominance in the United States, 
human nature being what it is, would no doubt be 
settled in the end by the issue of a sanguinary 
struggle ; but as the races are so unequal in the vari- 
ous elements of dominating power, it will, I am thank- 
ful to say, never come to that. But I can clearly see 
that unless the Fifteenth Amendment is repealed, or 
at least by common consent annulled, there is a great 
deal of trouble ahead for this and future generations. 
God grant to both races wise leaders who will guide 
our feet respectively in the paths of uprightness and 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 119 

peace and in the way of accomplishing His blessed 
designs for both His black and His white children. 

II 

Afro-Americans are in great need of a Moses who 
will take their mind away from Anglo-Saxon ideals 
and lead them to the realization of their own racial, 
social, political and religious ideals. Such a leader 
has not yet appeared. Hence the existence of the 
American Race Problem. When he does appear, 
that problem will be solved and not until then. Some 
think that Washington, others that DuBois is the 
much needed Moses, but neither is destined to be an 
universal leader. 

Doctor Booker T. Washington, of Tuskegee, and 
Professor DuBois, of Atlanta, the authors respectively 
of "The Future of the American Negro," and The 
Souls of the Black Folk," and the joint authors of 
"The Negro in the South," are undoubtedly the lead- 
ing Negroes of this country and generation, at least 
they are popularly so regarded. Both of these men are 
scholars, educators, writers and orators, who are a credit 
to their race. But both are Anglo-American 'White- 
washers," not Afro-American "Artists." Their precepts 
are written in the sand with a reed, not by the finger 
of God on tables of stone. 

Washington and DuBois are generally supposed to 
represent radically different political programs for 
their people, and a difference there undoubtedly is 
both in the goal that is held up for realization and 



120 The Crucial Race Question 

especially in the way that is pointed out for the reach- 
ing of it ; but the diversity is not nearly so great as is 
commonly supposed. So far as the goal to be reached 
is concerned, Dr. Washington recommends colored 
people to be content with the dream of ultimate polit- 
ical equality with white people, and to abandon the 
hope of social equality. Prof. DuBois more frankly 
advises his people to be satisfied with nothing short of 
the vision of political equality, plus social equality 
and the final coalescence of the races ! To my mind the 
Professor is only a little more logical, consistent and 
frank than the Doctor, and he has learned more of his- 
tory, so that he knows, what his rival does not know 
or confess, that political equality inevitably leads to 
social equality and intermarriage. 

The most notable among the Republics of Antiquity 
were those of Athens and Sparta and they were not in 
either case built upon the foundation of universal 
suffrage. On the contrary none but citizens could 
vote, and only he who was admitted to be of pure 
Athenian or Spartan descent could enjoy the highly 
prized benefits of citizenship in the nation to which 
he belonged. It may be said of both of these people, 
that almost their very first concern was the purity of 
their blood and, though they took widely different 
measures to prevent its contamination, they were 
equally and remarkably successful. It was almost 
impossible for any foreigner even though a Greek to 
become a citizen in either of these States. 

History in the case of both the Greek and Roman 
republics shows that Political and Social equality go 
hand in hand, and it could not be otherwise than true 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 121 

of this republic, if more than nominal citizenship 
really were accorded to the Negro. As a matter of 
actual fact in sections of the country where the validity 
of the Fifteenth Amendment really is recognized, mis- 
regeneration is already taking place. 

Ill 

In conclusion I desire to state and answer two or 
three criticisms that have been received from eminent 
Northern gentlemen bearing upon this Lecture, espec- 
ially the last Chapter of it. 

i. One of my critics says, "You maintain that the 
Negro is not fit and never can be made fit for political 
self-government, and yet you contend that in an auton- 
omous church he would learn and exercise that degree 
of self-government which is an indispensable pre-requi- 
site of racial development and greatness. You admit, 
then, in one breath that the Negro is capable of gov- 
erning himself as an Afro-American Christian, and 
in the next breath you deny his ability for such gov- 
ernment as an Afro-American citizen. Bishop, if you 
can show that this is not a contradiction verging upon 
the reductio ad absurdum I shall be, notwithstanding 
my strong bias in favor of the doctrine of political 
equality, almost persuaded that your position is ten- 
able and shall begin the preparation of the way for 
coming over to your side with what grace I can." 

To this well put and plausible objection to my repre- 
sentation that the Negro can govern himself in the 
ecclesiastical realm, while he cannot do so in the poli- 
tical realm, I will explain that I have nowhere in this 
essay undertaken to show that the Negro is not fit 



122 The Crucial Race Question 

at present or cannot become fit in the future to exer- 
cise the right of the franchise. My argument is not 
hinged upon the question of fitness but of ability. I 
am quite willing to grant that the Negro knows how to 
vote wisely or at least that in the course of time he 
may learn to do so, but I cannot concede that the day 
has or ever will come when he will be in position to 
render effective any expression of his will through the 
ballot. To cast a vote is one thing and to make it 
count is a very different thing. 

An unified and stable Democratic government cannot 
be made up of two races because in such a govern- 
ment there would be opposing forces which would 
constantly be making for irreconcilable division ; and 
we have it upon high authority that a house so divided 
against itself cannot stand. If, therefore, the Fifteenth 
Amendment were operative the Afro-American and 
Anglo-American would be in constant competition for 
political supremacy and this would soon take the form 
of a race conflict which would be disastrous to one 
or the other of the races. 

Fitness for political self-government depends upon 
natural endowments, artificial acquirements, and also 
upon relationships or environments. In this discussion 
I do not approach very closely the delicate question as 
to whether or not the Afro-American is fitted by 
natural endowment to take his stand by the side of the 
Anglo-American in the government of this country. 
This is a matter of opinion or perhaps conceit which 
only the future can settle ; and I have avoided any 
examination of it beyond what was necessary to show 
by the citation of competent testimony that the issue of 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 123 

amalgamation would be a new race inferior to both 
the Anglo-American and Afro-American. 

Our chief concern is with the second question, and 
in its two-fold aspect it is this: is the Afro-American 
the equal of the Anglo-American in artificial acquisi- 
tions, and if not, will he be allowed to become an equal 
in this respect? 

As to the first inquiry of this double question there 
is not, so far as I am aware, any difference of opinion 
among either whites or blacks, and it therefore need not 
detain us except for the observation that, since civili- 
zation is measured by artificial acquisitions and since 
the Afro-American is by the common consent of both 
races so far behind the Anglo-American in their pos- 
session, he needs help. Fortunately the Anglo-Ameri- 
can is perfectly willing to help the Afro-American, the 
Southerner no less than the Northerner, providing 
that the Negro acknowledges his need of help and 
providing also that the Negro does not aspire and 
attempt to become a rival. 

It is with the Anglo-American and the Afro-Ameri- 
can as with the giant and the pigmy and there is no 
question in anybody's mind which is the giant as mat- 
ters now stand with the races. For the sake of argu- 
ment, it may, at least tentatively, be admitted that there 
is a possibility of the Negro becoming a rival giant, 
but all will agree that he is at present far from being 
this. The strong are naturally chivalric. A man who is 
conscious of superior strength is always willing to 
help one who is comparatively weak, and it is happily so 
in the case of races. But if the pigmy "swells himself" 
and "makes believe" that he is as powerful as the 



124 The Crucial Race Question 

giant and tries to crowd him aside, then, human 
nature being what it is, all that he can expect is a kick 
downward rather than a lift upward. Indeed there is 
not anything that the strong can do for this sort of 
weakness; for it is of that kind which the Great 
Teacher had in mind when he said of its possessors: 
"He that exalteth himself shall be abased." 

Anglo-Americans will help Afro-Americans up to 
a certain point, but not to the point of equality and 
rivalry. The moment that the Afro-American com- 
mences to plume himself as an equal and a rival, the 
attitude of the Anglo-American is changed and the 
Afro-American in order to maintain his self-respect 
must either conquer the Anglo-American or go off by 
himself and set up an independent political govern- 
ment. This is why I maintain that if the Negro, 
in natural endowments, is either the equal or the 
superior of the Caucasians or even if he be inferior and 
yet is determined to make the most of himself there 
ultimately must be a separation. Human nature 
renders any other alternative impossible. The separa- 
tion may be long deferred, no doubt will be ; but the 
Afro-American if he enters into competition with the 
Anglo-American must either make a conquest or an 
exodus. If he does not do one or the other he must 
fall back; he must do the giant's bidding or die. 

Negroes and Northerners generally, think that 
wealth and knowledge will "fit" the Negro for the 
occupation of the same political level with the white 
man. But my contention is that no acquirements or 
advancement of the Negro will enable him to peaceably 
take such a position. It is perhaps within the range of 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 125 

conceivable possibilities that the time may come when 
the Negro will supplant the white man and the rela- 
tive positions of the two races will be changed ; but 
that can only be done by a conquest made possible by 
the decadence of the Caucasian and a corresponding 
improvement in the Negro. But in this essay we are 
concerned with present conditions and immediate pros- 
pects, not with the changes and chances of a remote 
future. 

Now, inasmuch as the Anglo-American citizen is pre- 
vented by a law of nature from allowing the Afro- 
American to be associated with him in the govern- 
ment of these United States, Anglo-American Church- 
men should give Afro-American Churchmen an auton- 
omous branch of the Catholic Church and thereby 
put them into a position to work out their own salva- 
tion by the only self-government which it is possible 
for them to exercise under present conditions. And, 
from the standpoint of one who believes that the 
Negro should be allowed to take part in our political 
government and accepts the doctrine of religious free- 
dom my position is unassailable. 

For surely, from that point of view, none can fail to 
see that the Negro is entitled to religious self-govern- 
ment and as, according to the idea which prevails 
among us, an autonomous Episcopate is an indispen- 
sable requisite of a complete ecclesiastical government 
we should give it to him. Protestant Episcopal Anglo- 
Americans who believe in the righteousness of the 
Fifteenth Amendment should be about the last people 
to deny an autonomous Episcopate to Protestant Epis- 
copal-Afro-Americans. The Bishop of Western Texas 



126 The Crucial Race Question 

and I would like the Anglo-Catholic Church to be 
represented in the Councils of the Roman Church. 
We are denied such representation, but the protests 
of our Fathers who were represented in the Councils 
of that Church has secured to us an autonomous Epis- 
copate. Why should not the protests of Afro-Ameri- 
can Churchmen have a like result? 

When the true Negro Moses comes he will not incul- 
cate the body and soul destroying doctrine of racial 
amalgamation as the ultimate result of successful 
competition with the Caucasian in the higher indus- 
trial, educational and commercial fields of this white 
man's country ; but he will preach the gospel of the 
segregation of the races and governmental autonomy, 
as the final outcome of the recognition of the Divinely 
drawn Color-Line and of success in avoiding competi- 
tion and in holding the lower industrial fields in the 
South, until the time has come for an Afro-American 
exodus, or at least a political separation of some kind. 
The key-note of the economical part of his preaching 
will be neither wealth, nor education, but work. 

As some one has well said, "Civilization is a jealous 
mistress. Wherever she meets a man she exacts his 
service or his life. If he cannot labor he dies. Civiliza- 
tion met the Indian, and he has perished." This elo- 
quent exponent of a great truth might have gone on 
to say, that Civilization has met the Negro, and he 
may live if he will work and not attempt to enter into 
competition with the white man. The black man has 
a capacity for work and fortunately the white man of 
the South wants him to work. If it were not so the 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 127 

future of the Negro would be as hopeless as that of the 
Indian. 

A Northern student of our race problem, who sees a 
part of the truth respecting the condition which con- 
fronts the Negro as unhappily it is not generally seen 
by Northern people, has correctly observed : "In the 
North the Negro is welcome to carry a torch in a poli- 
tical procession about election time, but he is not 
allowed to carry a dinner pail in the great industrial 
procession which takes place every day ; while in the 
South he is excluded from the field of politics, but 
welcomed to the field of labor. The Negro, forced to 
choose between the right to work and the right to vote, 
has chosen the better part. He has decided to work, 
and notwithstanding his exclusion from the suffrage 
by the Southern people, he has elected to cast his lot 
with them and gain his subsistence on their soil by the 
labor of his hands." 

Is this true? Has the Negro "chosen" to do this? 
I trust so ; for in the decision to work in fields where 
he does not come into too close competition with the 
white man lies the only hope for the poor Negro. 
Hard work along the lines of least resistance or sure 
death, one or the other, is his unavoidable fate if he 
continues with us. While the Negro remains in this 
White man's country or at least until he in some way 
attains political autonomy there is for him an inten- 
sified meaning in the decrees, "By the sweat of thy 
face shalt thou eat bread" ; and "If any man will not 
work neither shall he eat." 

The free black man in this white man's country has 
a most difficult task to perform. If he would remain 



128 The Crucial Race Question 

here and live he must work, harder and more skill- 
fully must he work than he ever worked as a slave. 
Nor can he, as a freeman, choose his field of labor 
much more than he did as a bondman. And not only 
must he still do the will of the white man, but he must 
now make brick without straw as never before. His 
is indeed a hard lot; and it will grow harder. For in 
the competition with the Caucasian the Negro now has 
a more exacting and cruel master than ever he had 
in any Legree. He who has ears for such things and 
does not stop them against the utterances of the unwel- 
come truth can plainly hear a cry of the emancipated 
Negro for relief which is more piercing than any 
that he uttered in slavery and also this reply of his piti- 
less new task-master: "Legree did lade you with a 
heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. He chastised you 
with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." 

2. Another of my Northern critics whom I highly 
esteem as being at once the most distinguished, able, 
representative and judicial among the objectors to the 
position I have taken in this essay half reproachfully 
accuses me of being "against the commendable efforts 
which Negroes are making to acquire property and 
education. You prefer that they should seek rather 
'the kingdom of God and His righteousness.' But, 
Bishop, 'that is not first which is spiritual, but that 
which is natural, and afterwards that which is spir- 
itual.' In the order of natural things human improve- 
ment begins in the gathering of property. This calls 
for industry, frugality and the improvement of the 
condition of children. It also awakens a sense of 
responsibility. If there had been no gain in this 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 129 

respect I fear I should have despaired of the Negro, 
But every man who gets a house and lot is pledged to 
order and the maintenance of the peace by which his 
property is secure. He is more likely to become a 
good citizen and church member than if he spent and 
squandered all he earned. 

"And, Bishop, you are against Negro suffrage. I 
believe that one of the strongest incentives to virtue 
and achievement would be the hope of political enfran- 
chisement, and I believe that laws providing for the 
giving of the elective franchise to worthy Negroes, 
men whose worth is proved and known, would con- 
tribute much towards their improvement. I really do 
not see why you should have labored so much to 
put yourself squarely against it in arguing for an 
Autonomous Negro Episcopate. It seems to me to 
give unnecessary offense to the Negroes and to link 
political and ecclesiastical questions together more 
than is desirable for the purpose in hand." 

Now it has not been my intention to discourage the 
Afro-American in his effort to acquire property and 
education ; for I agree with this critic that it would be 
for the good of both races that he should secure as 
much of these as he can. And I most gladly admit that 
some Negroes are making gratifying, if not indeed 
phenomenal, progress in doing so. In the whole of 
the Arkansas Black Belt it would be difficult if not 
impossible to find a Negro who is a roving beggar. 
I do not know of one and I have not heard of any. 
Moreover, the responses to my inquiries of people who 
are in position to give reliable testimony tend to the 



130 The Crucial Eace Question 

conclusion that what is true in this respect of Arkan- 
sas is equally true of Mississippi and of the South gen- 
erally. In the city of Little Rock many colored people 
own their own homes and not a few of these are quite 
as good and some of them better than the average 
white home. This may also be said to the great credit 
of the Negroes of Pine Bluff, Hot Springs, Helena, 
Camden, Newport and of our larger centers of popu- 
lation generally. In Little Rock, several Negro 
Churches are large, solid brick structures, better build- 
ings than my brick veneered Cathedral. 

After only a few services of the Episcopal Church had 
been held at Pine Bluff our small constituency, at that 
time not exceeding a dozen persons, and only three or 
four of them communicants, notified me that they 
would guarantee $500 towards the building of a 
Chapel. It has been my inestimable privilege to have 
been permitted to devote the whole of my ministerial 
life to aggressive missionary work. With the assist- 
ance of my co-laborers and God's blessing upon our 
endeavors, I have established congregations and built 
Churches in nearly fifty new places ; I think it is due to 
St. Andrew's Colored Mission Congregation, Pine 
Bluff, that I should say that I have seldom received 
a more liberal and never a more spontaneous pledge of 
self-help from a correspondingly small and newly 
organized white congregation. 

Many Negroes on the streets of our chief cities and 
towns look and act the prosperous, educated man and 
woman. They dress and conduct themselves extremely 
well, and not a few have carriages and horses. To all 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 131 

this and perhaps more "even blind prejudice would be 
obliged to bear witness." 

A Mississippi friend tells me that this picture of 
Negro advancement is true of his great Black Belt 
State: "My former cook," he writes, "during this 
present month, presented her daughter with a city 
lot as a wedding present, and she herself lives in a home 
very modest, but worth certainly not less than three 
thousand dollars. The average Negro on the streets 
is educated, many with a degree of refinement, and 
genuine good manners." 

A Florida correspondent says : "I think educationally 
and as a property owner the Negro has everywhere 
made considerable progress ;" and I have testimony to 
the same effect from a competent Louisiana witness. So 
far as I can ascertain there is general agreement in 
the conclusion that everywhere a few Negroes, in the 
aggregate a goodly number, are coming up education- 
ally and financially, and that they are learning to take 
care of their property. We have a good bank in Little 
Rock, the president of which is a wealthy, dignified 
Negro who enjoys the confidence and respect of the 
whole community, and he is fairly representative of a 
growing class of Negroes whose character has never 
been tarnished by a breath of suspicion of any kind. 
Furthermore, this class of Elect Negroes is increasing, 
and they will increase. It is true that by comparison 
they cannot be regarded as more than a little leaven, 
and there is a whole barrel of meal ; but then they are 
leaven, and happily leaven has wondrous permeating 
and spreading propensities. Let us thank God for 



132 The ^Crucial Eace Question 

this leaven, and do what we can to help it in its regen- 
erating work. The best thing we as a church can do, 
is first to set up an independent Afro-American ecclesi- 
astical" religious bread making establishment with head 
bakers, and then co-operate with them in bringing the 
meal and the leaven together under the most favorable 
of conditions which can be created. 

But, while I rejoice in the fact that Negroes are 
seeking and finding education and wealth, I contend 
nevertheless that they must not seek them with the 
idea that their attainment will put them on the same 
level with the white man socially, politically, ecclesias- 
tically, commercially, professionally or in any other 
respect. The moment this becomes the object of 
their endeavor to get wealth and learning, then and 
there trouble begins, because an unequal competition 
is entered into by them with the white man which, as 
matters now stand, can end only in their degradation 
and ruin. 

One reason why I put myself "squarely against" 
political equality in arguing for ecclesiastical autonomy 
is found in the indisputable fact that the thing I 
recommend v/ould be wrong if that for which many 
among my Northern and Negro critics contend would 
be right. For, if, as they insist, political equality ought 
to be given to the Negro, how can I maintain that he 
should be denied ecclesiastical equality. 

Therefore, in taking a position in favor of drawing 
the Color-Line in the realm of religion by the creation 
of an autonomous Afro-American Episcopate in 
accordance with the Arkansas Plan, I was compelled 
by the law of self-preservation to set myself "squarely 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 133 

against" both political and social equality. If I had not 
done so, Negroes and Northerners would have made 
very short work of any argumentative superstructure 
that I might have erected by depriving it of its logical 
foundation. 

Now manifestly, if it is wrong to draw the Color- 
Line in the State, it is wrong to do so in the Church. 
I have elsewhere shown that the reverse of this is true 
because the unity of nature is such as that the social, 
political and ecclesiastical realms of civilization are 
indissolubly bound together, so that the drawing of 
the Color-Line through one of them without doing it 
in the case of the rest is to disregard God's will as it 
is revealed in nature. It therefore follows, as by a 
logical necessity, that if it be either right or wrong to 
draw the Color-Line in the State it must be the same 
in respect to the Church. Color-Line drawing is right 
in each of the three great realms of civilization, if it is 
right in any one of them, and, the converse of this is 
true, or else the doctrine of the unity of nature which 
is so generally accepted by scientists and philosophers 
is not true. It was therefore incumbent upon me either 
to prove that Northern people and Negroes are wrong 
touching their social and political ideals or else to give 
up my contention that the Color-Line should be drawn 
in the Church. 

Science and philosophy are agreed that the God of 
nature and of the universe is a God that changeth 
not. The light of reason as well as that of revelation 
shows the Divine Being to be the same yesterday, today 
and forever. Therefore, since he saw fit to differen- 
tiate mankind into separate races at the beginning, we 



134 The Crucial Race Question 

must conclude it to be his will that racial differentia- 
tions should be preserved and continued in their integ- 
rity to the end, and that the amalgamation of races 
involves the disregard of God's will by every individual 
who has any part in bringing it about. The proof posi- 
tive that this reasoning is correct and that amalgama- 
tion is a ruinous crime is found in the curse of inferior- 
ity which rests upon all hybrid races. 

Thus, whether we reason from the hypothesis of the 
unity of nature or the unchangableness of the god of 
nature or the results of hybridization we must conclude 
that the recognition of the Color-Line in the social 
realm is eminently right and that the failure to do so is 
equally wrong. 

For an individual to sin with one of his own race 
against the marriage relation is the breaking of one 
of the fundamental laws of civilization, and is therefore 
a crime of a heinous character; but for an Anglo- 
American to commit the same sin with an Afro-Ameri- 
can is to add the crime of an iniquitous species of 
body and soul-destroying murder to that of the most 
debasing adultery. The libertine who crosses the 
Color-Line in quest of his prey is the most execrable 
of all criminals ; especially is this true here in the 
United States where two such dissimilar races are liv- 
ing in the closest proximity and where consequently 
the danger of the weakening and extinction of the 
inferior race and the degradation of the superior is so 
perilously eminent. The Divine curse rested upon 
Cain ; he became a "fugitive and a vagabond," and in 
every generation his name is held up to utter detesta- 
tion for a crime that was venial compared with that of 
miscegenation. 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 135 

I need not further argue in favor of the contention 
that any disregard of the Color-Line which tends to the 
amalgamation of the Anglo-American and Afro-Ameri- 
can races is a sin of the blackest dye. Northern peo- 
ple and even Negroes are beginning to see this. But 
it is asked what relationship has the political and 
ecclesiastical realms to the social realm which renders 
it imperative that the Color-Line should be drawn in 
them as well as in it. I answer, if civilization be com- 
pared to the Garden of Eden, society may be regarded 
as the Tree of Life, and the State and the Church are 
the gates which admit to the garden. How fortunate, 
therefore, it is that the angels of race prejudice stand 
at the Civil and Ecclesiastical gates with their flaming 
turning swords to guard the way to the Tree of Life. 

The sum of the whole matter is this : One race can- 
not admit another race to political and ecclesiastical 
equality because, to do so is to open the way to social 
equality. If, for the purpose of illustrating our mean- 
ing we say that social equality represents the marriage 
relationship, we may claim that political and ecclesias- 
tical equality represent the courtships which lead to that 
relationship. And in view of the main purpose of this 
essay, it is important to note that of the two courtships, 
the one which is promoted by ecclesiastical equality is 
more dangerous than that which grows out of political 
equality. From every point of view, the conclusion is 
unavoidable that it is not only right for Anglo-Ameri- 
cans to recognize the Color-Line in the social, political 
and religious realms, but more than that it would be 
a great sin not to do so. 



136 The Crucial Eace Question 

Hence the appeal of Afro-American Churchmen is 
wholly justifiable in so far as it asks for racial Bishops 
and Jurisdictions ; for the creation of such an Episco- 
pate would be to draw the Color-Line about the ecclesi- 
astical realm for the purpose of protecting the citadel of 
civilization, the social r^ealm. But that appeal is wholly 
and entirely unjustifiable in so far as it asks for the 
proposed Episcopate and Jurisdictions "representation" 
in the General Convention ; for the granting of it would 
be to sheath the sword of one of the guardian angels of 
race prejudice and to take him away from his post of 
duty, the largest entrance to our Garden of Eden and 
its Tree of Life. 

The Color-Line in some way and to some degree is 
now recognized in every Diocese having a considerable 
number of Afro-American Churchmen. This would be 
all right as far as it goes, but for the deception connected 
with it. The Color-Line is quite fully recognized, and 
yet we pretend that it does not exist. This criticism 
applies to Southern Anglo-Americans in the political 
realm. We are pretending that the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment is in force, while everybody knows that it is not. 
Deception is wrong in the State as well as in the 
Church ; but it would appear to be especially so in 
the Church. If we were to create an Afro-American 
Episcopate with representation in the General Conven- 
tion, matters would be made worse rather than better. 
As they now stand Southern Churchmen are com- 
pelled either to ignore the Color-Line in both the civil 
and the religious realms, or to practice deception in the 
recognition of it. 



Domestic, Social and Political Color-Lines 137 

We should get rid of this demoralizing necessity of 
pretending what is not true. The creation of a mis- 
sionary Episcopate with representation in the Gen- 
eral Convention would not contribute to that end. The 
only ways in which we can rid ourselves of the hurtful 
and humiliating deception which we Southerners are 
practicing in both State and Church is by the repeal of 
the Fifteenth Amendment and the creation of an Auton- 
omous Episcopate. 

Finally let me say again, for it cannot be said 
too often, that it will be a wide step forward in the solu- 
tion of the Great American Race Problem when it is 
understood by all concerned that race antipathy will 
forever prevent Afro-Americans and Anglo-Americans 
from living together in any of the realms of civiliza- 
tion as equals and rivals. Competition, especially in 
the political or industrial domain, will most certainly 
and inevitably result in the ruin of the one or the other 
of the races. 

The United States is a stage. The world is waiting. 
When the curtain rises the scene will be found to be 
either the farce comedy of pigmies swelling themselves 
against giants, or the blood-curdling tragedy of mighty 
men fiercely battling for the supremacy. 

My good friend, Mr. Charles E. Brock, of Wash- 
ington, calls my attention to the fact that the Govern- 
ment of our Capital City furnishes an apt and interest- 
ing illustration of the truth of my contention that two 
races of people cannot occupy the same political plat- 
form. He says : 

"The government of our Capital City is essentially 
imperial in character rather than Democratic and, it 



138 The Crucial Race Question 

is an open secret that the White people deliberately 
made it such, in order to avoid the intolerable condi- 
tion of the political equality of the Black and the White 
race, which was seen to be inevitable in the case of a 
city situated as is Washington. The true civil and 
ecclesiastical statesmen will discern from such straws 
which way the wind blows. We cannot have real poli- 
tical equality in the Church any more than in the State. 
At best it can only be a 'make believe' equality, and 
the Church is no place for deception." 

Professor Smith has a fine remark bearing upon this 
subject in the chapter of his book, "The Color-Line," 
entitled, "A Dip Into the Future." "We think," the 
Professor says, "that universal history attests the cor- 
rectness of this observation. Wherever border lines 
have been closely drawn and distinctly recognized, 
whether between species or races, nations or tribes, 
castes, classes, or individuals, there have been found 
at least comparative quiet, harmony, mutual regard, 
and even happiness. But ill-defined borders have been 
everywhere and everywhen the fruitful source of strife, 
destruction, and misery. 

"It was with a just feeling for this great truth that 
the profound Gnostic, Basilides, declared that in 'the 
restoration of all things,' at 'the consummation of the 
aeons/ 'every element would seek its own place and 
there abide forever, and not as if fishes were trying to 
pasture with sheep upon mountains.' A kindred sense 
of the fitness of things is revealed here in the South, 
and also in the North, where one will often hear it said 
that T like a Negro — in his place.' This does not 
mean, at least it need not mean, any harshness or 
over-haughtiness on the part of the speaker. 



The Crucial Race Que&ion 



LECTURE III 

The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 

CHAPTER VIII. Little Black Cora and her Big White Doll, or the 

Necessity of Negro Bishops. 

CHAPTER IX. The Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER X. An Afro-American Missionary Episcopate with 

Representation in the General Convention. 

CHAPTER XI. Results of the Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER XII. The Failure of the White Ministry Among 

Colored People. 



PREFATORY 



My design in Lecture III is to show (1) that the Color-Line must 
•be drawn about the Religious Realm as well as around the Social 
and Political Realms of Anglo-Americans, and (2) that the welfare 
of both Races and of all the interests concerned require that Anglo- 
American Churchmen should give Afro-American Churchmen an in- 
dependent Episcopate and Church, rather than the "Missionary" 
Episcopate with "representation" in the General Convention. 

For if the two races of Churchmen would walk together in peace 
and harmony both must remember at every step that beneath them 
is a dangerous mine the powerful explosive of which is an implacable 
racial antipathy. The fuse by which the batteries of this mine are 
exploded is Anglo-American politics. There is a political side 
to the Church as well as to the State, and it will not do for the 
Colored man to touch either the religious or civil politics of the 
White man. Therefore Afro-American Churchmen should not seek 
representation in the Parochial Vestries, Diocesan Councils, or Gen- 
eral Conventions of Anglo-American Churchmen. The "peace and 
good will among men" of different races upon which so much depends, 
especially for the weaker race, render it absolutely necessary that 
Colored men should not claim and exercise the rights of citizenship 
in this White man's country, or of membership in our Anglo-Amer- 
ican Churches. 

But according to our contention in this Lecture there is another 
reason why the Colored man should withdraw from an active par- 
ticipation in the administration of the White man's State and Church. 
He needs, and he ought to have, his independent racial Church which 
is governed by himself, for himself. For things being as they are 
it is only through such a Church that he can learn the all important, 
indispensable art of self-government, and make progress in the up- 
ward way of civilization. 

The advantage of Ecclesiastical Independence so far as it appears 
from the practical operation of the Arkansas Plan, and the com- 
parison of the present condition and outlook of the autonomous 
Negro Churches with those that are attached to White Churches is 
set forth. It is, I believe, the statistical showing of chapters XI 
and XII will convince many of the folly of creating a Missionary 
Episcopate with representation in the General Convention, especially 
since an adequate Episcopate of this type would transfer the racial 
troubles of the Southern Dioceses to the General Convention and 
intensify them. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Little Black Cora and Her Big White Doll, or the 
Necessity of Negro Bishops 

My second lesson in the Great American Race Prob- 
lem was learned from the little daughter of our colored 
man-of-all-work, and it has been an eye-opener, 
not only to me, but also to many Southern people to 
whom the trivial but illuminating incident has been 
narrated. 

The name of the child was "Cora," and this is how it 
came about that, soon after my going to Arkansas in 
1898, she set me to thinking along the lines that led 
to the Arkansas Plan for the work of the Church 
among Afro-Americans which, as we shall see in the 
next chapter, is in successful operation under the 
direction of our Negro Convocational Archdeacon, who 
is a Bishop so far as I can make him such without 
giving him the power by consecration to perform 
distinctly Episcopal functions. 

Our first Christmas at the South was drawing near 
and Mrs. Brown had planned to give Cora an up- 
to-date doll-baby ; the kind that can be put to sleep and 
wakened up at the will of its juvenile mother. But 
when she told me of the surprise that she was con- 
templating for the little black girl, a most interesting 



142 The Crucial Race Question 

question arose in my mind and I asked, "What color 
will you have it?" 

This question proved to be an embarrassing one to 
both of us, and the more we thought and talked about 
it, the more so it became. We did not take it up with 
<any of our newly-made Southern acquaintance, 
because we feared they would have a good laugh at our 
expense and pass around the joke about the "new 
Yankee Bishop." But when we were alone we often 
discussed it over and over from every point of view 
without reaching a conclusion in which both could 
agree or that was quite satisfactory to either of us. 

When Christmas had drawn so near that there was 
no more time for the prolongation of our fruitless dis- 
cussion, we wisely agreed to settle our dispute and to 
prevent the embarrassment of a mistake by taking 
Cora's father into our confidence. His name was 
Zach and he was very black. So we went out 
to him and I said : "Zach, Mrs. Brown wants to give 
a Christmas present of a fine doll to Cora, but as we 
are Northern people, we are not able to decide what 
color it should be." Zach smiled at our ignorance 
and informed us that "all de colored little girls wants 
white dolls, and dey won't hab nuthin' to do wid black 
doll-babies." This reply was highly satisfactory to Mrs. 
Brown. But as for me the ending of our controversy 
was an illustration of the truth of the proverb, "a man 
convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." 
I was obliged to admit that little black girls prefer 
white doll-babies, but nevertheless I have always 
insisted that their preference should be for black doll- 
babies. 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 143 

At first sight, there would seem not to be much 
logical connection between a doll-baby for a colored 
child and a Bishop for her people, but reflection 
upon Zach's reply and the investigations to which it 
led, ultimately resulted in my advocacy of the drawing 
of the Color-Line about the Episcopal Church, by the 
establishment of a wholly separate and independent 
Diocesan Afro-American Convocation, a thing which 
has been done already in Arkansas, and by the creation 
of a national autonomous Afro-American Church, a 
thing which I hope ultimately will be done in response 
to the Arkansas Memorial to the Richmond General 
Convention. 

I have no doubt that, upon reflection, the reader 
will agree with me that little Negro girls should want 
and delight in black doll-babies, and that they would 
do so under normal conditions. If such be the case, 
Colored Bishops and all that would go with them, 
would do much to make little black girls want black 
doll-babies and to solve our Race Problem. Cer- 
tainly we could reasonably expect that Race Bishops 
would do something towards securing to Afro-Amer- 
icans the uplifting, ennobling Race Pride in which they 
are well known to be wofully lacking at present. 
What can be expected of them so long as their little 
girls reject doll-babies of their own color for white 



ones ? 



"Aliens to our race whether Deacons, Friests or 
Bishops, cannot for fear of social ostracism identify 
themselves with us, and, moreover, we do not put 
the same confidence in one whose race asserts its 
superiority to ours iu no uncertain terms. We are 
always reserved in our attitude towards him, so that 
success, except in a very few cases, is well nigh 
impossible. The only efficient human instrumentality 
for the constructive work which lies ahead of us, 
is the racial leader, one who is indigenous rather 
than exotic. The White Missionary among Afro- 
Americans, be he Bishop or otherwise, is no less 
out of place than a Black Missionary among Anglo- 
Saxons." — Archdeacon McGuire's Address to 1906 
Conference of Church Workers Among Colored 
People. 



CHAPTER IX 

The Arkansas Plan 



In order to keep the theme of this book clearly 
before the reader I will restate briefly its thesis in the 
following syllogism. Self-government is necessary to 
the development of any people. The Afro-American, 
while he remains with us, can never have a chance at 
civil self-government. Therefore religion is the only 
all-inclusive realm in which he can govern himself, 
and the Episcopal Church should give him a chance to 
do so by making a favorable response to the appeal 
for racial Bishops. 

The American Negro can never do anything great 
until, so to speak, he gets through school and in some 
way strikes out for himself. While he remains in the 
United States, and this probably will be, and, for his 
own good ought to be, two or three hundred years 
longer, he will always be overshadowed by the white 
man, and he will be kept down and depressed by the 
hardships and persecutions which through all history 
have been the sad, but apparently unavoidable lot of 
every people which has been situated as he is. At 
present, one of his great defects is his lack of race 



146 The Crucial Eace Question 

pride. This defect must be corrected before there can 
be any wide outlook and substantial hope for the race. 
But this cannot be accomplished without self-govern- 
ment. And, inasmuch as political self-government 
always has been, is now and ever will be impossible 
and out of the question for a race situated as is the 
American Negro, the only field in which he can get off 
by himself, and try his hand at self-government, is the 
ecclesiastical field. 

What is true of the necessity of drawing the Color- 
Line around the social and political realms is equally 
true of the religious realm. And as a matter of fact 
the Color-Line has been drawn about all our 
Churches. So far as the Anglo-American Church is con- 
cerned, this has been done more completely in the Dio- 
cese of Arkansas than elsewhere. We practically have 
two entirely separate and independent Dioceses, one for 
Anglo-American and one for Afro-American Church- 
men. They are indeed loosely connected through the 
Bishop and a canonical provision which gives the Con- 
vocation, or Diocese of the Colored People, a right 
to indicate to the Diocese of the White People its 
preference as to the person or persons to be elected to 
the Episcopate or to other important Diocesan offices ; 
but, while, in such elections, the Council of White 
Churchmen is pledged to a respectful consideration of 
the expressed preferences of the Convocation of 
Colored Churchmen, it is not bound to regard such 
expressions even in the light of nominations. 

The "Arkansas Plan" has been criticised upon con- 
stitutional grounds; and at one time there was some 
talk of an effort to exclude the Bishop and Delegation 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 147 

of the Diocese of Arkansas from the General Con- 
vention, because of the alleged unconstitutionality of 
the action of their Diocesan Council in the exclusion 
of Negro Clergy and Congregations from representa- 
tion in it and in the relegation of them to a Convoca- 
tion of their own. But the more cool-headed, even 
among those who were bitterly opposed to the plan 
and denounced it as unchristian, soon came to see the 
truth and force of our representation that the Epis- 
copal Church was from the beginning and is now an 
Anglo-American institution in which the Afro-Ameri- 
can has had no rights except such as have been 
accorded to him and that even they are not inalienable 
but may be revoked at any time. 

A distinguished New England Clergyman, who cer 
tainly was without a very strong bias in favor of the 
Arkansas Plan, admitted to me in a letter that, in 
view of the origin and history of our Anglo-American 
Church and of the fact that it had never by legislative 
enactment really opened its doors to Afro-Americans, 
there was no legal ground upon which the Diocese of 
Arkansas could be excluded from the General Conven- 
tion. "If;" asks he, "the Church, as a whole, desires 
to forestall and prevent the drawing of the Color-Line, 
as proposed in Arkansas, will it not have to amend its 
Constitution by the adoption of an article analogous 
to the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States, reading somewhat as follows : 'The 
right of members of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the United States to be presented in, and to vote in, 
the General Convention, or the Convention or Council, 
of any Diocese or any Jurisdiction, shall not be denied 



148 The Crucial Eace Question 

or abridged by the General Convention or by the Con- 
vention or Council of any Diocese or Jurisdiction, on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servi- 
tude.' The 'Arkansas Plan' may be objected to as 
un-American, and denounced as un-Christian, but until 
the enactment of some such amendment as above 
stated to the Constitution of the Church, can such a 
plan be pronounced un-Constitutional?" 

A great Canonist, also a Northern man, but one 
who had lived South long enough to know a good deal 
about the conditions there, said : "All idea of exclud- 
ing the Bishop and Diocese of Arkansas from repre- 
sentation in the General Convention is nonsense and 
could not be carried in the General Convention. If 
that should be tried I would like to see who would 
argue the case." 

This feeling soon became so wide and strong that 
the movement looking towards our exclusion from the 
General Convention ended in the protest of the follow- 
ing Preamble and Resolutions which were passed at 
the 1903 session of the Conference of Church Workers 
Among Colored People : 

"Whereas, The Diocese of Arkansas has, in Council 
assembled, excluded by regular enactment the Colored 
Clergy and Laity from membership therein, and 

"Whereas, The adoption of such a plan denies to 
Colored Churchmen their inherent ecclesiastical rights 
and will have the effect of keeping the Colored People 
out of the Church ; be it, therefore, 

"Resolved, That the Conference of Church Workers 
among the Colored People, in its 19th Annual Session, 
unqualifiedly deplores and condemns the action of the 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 149 

Diocese of Arkansas, and earnestly requests all fair- 
minded Church people to use their influence to prevent 
the spread of such legislation in the Church, and to 
so plainly and forcibly express their disapproval of 
the action of the Diocese of Arkansas, as will lead it to 
a re-consideration of its unjust and uncatholic 
procedure. 

"Resolved further, That a copy of this resolution be 
sent to the Bishop of Arkansas, the House of Bishops 
and the Church papers." 

Since taking this action some among the leaders of 
that Conference have so far changed their minds about 
the Arkansas Plan that they nominated from among 
themselves the efficient man who became the head of 
the condemned "Convocation," the creation of which 
drew an impassable Color-Line about our Diocesan 
Council. And, furthermore, a self-constituted com- 
mittee of five among the most prominent of our 
colored Clergy issued the following circular letter to 
the colored Parishes and Missions of the Church in 
the United States, bearing date, Epiphany-tide, 1907: 
"We, the undersigned, a voluntary committee, would 
respectfully suggest that the Colored Clergy of the 
Church, concentrate their Missionary efforts (outside 
of their own Parishes) on some one central point, in 
order to be able to show the General Church that we 
are doing something for our people, by pointing to 
some one thing that is being done on a large scale. 
"We would further suggest that the field in which 
Archdeacon McGuire is working, be adopted. The 
Rev. Eugene L. Henderson, 356 Crown Street, New 
Haven, Connecticut, will act as Treasurer. Please 



150 The Crucial Eace Question 

send to him all contributions, intended for Archdeacon 
McGuire's work." 

The conclusion that this letter commits the dis- 
tinguished members of the voluntary committee which 
sent it out to an indorsement of the position I take in 
this essay would be, no doubt, an unjustifiable infer- 
ence, but it is equally certain that its gratifying 
request in favor of our Autonomous Afro-American 
Convocation would not have been made but for some 
great and general change of opinion regarding the 
Arkansas Plan. 

But, however this may be, it is an indisputable fact 
that the Arkansas Plan is designed so far as such a 
thing is possible in the Episcopal Church, under exist- 
ing circumstances, to meet the approval of an increas- 
ing number of Negro Christians. For it is a well 
known fact that, especially in religious affairs, many 
Negroes prefer to be by themselves. The truth of this 
statement is established by the simple fact that only 
the independent, autonomous Afro-American bodies 
grow in numbers and flourish in other respects. Pro- 
fessor DuBois in a recently published lecture, points 
out, apparently without observing the drift of the 
remarkable fact against his general conclusions, that, 
even before the war, Negroes, throughout the South, 
manifested a strong disposition to get off by them- 
selves for the religious services and preaching of 
Negro Ministers. He shows this tendency to have 
been so general and persistent and its effects to have 
been so detrimental to the institution of slavery, that 
several states found it necessary to legislate strongly 
against it. 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 151 

In this tendency on the part of American Negroes 
to go out by themselves into separate religious organ- 
izations, is observable, I think, the working of that 
law which is causing the history of the "Israelo- 
Egyptian" to be repeated in the "Afro-American." I 
have come to believe that the salvation of the 
American Negro is bound up with religious independ- 
ence, and autonomy, as much so as was the case with 
the Egyptian Israelites. They did not want to leave 
Egypt and go out for themselves, but their leaders 
saw that it was necessary for them to do so, in order 
that they might amount to something by realizing the 
destiny which God had ordained for them. It is 
necessary for the same reasons that our Afro-American 
brethren should go out from us. Their leaders see this 
to be the case and are asking for racial Bishops. Let 
us not deal with them as Pharaoh did with the Israel- 
ites when they were obliged to leave Egypt. 

I deem it to be most fortunate that the strong tend- 
ency with which the American Negro is gravitating 
towards ecclesiastical autonomy is rapidly settling the 
question of the Color-Line so far as the institution of the 
Church is concerned. Theoretical idealism, and Scrip- 
tural precept, as well, certainly do appear to support 
the contention that the door of the Church should stand 
open to all men and women without discriminating 
distinctions based upon the differentiating features of 
the several races of mankind. But we contend that 
any idealistic philosophical theory or interpretation 
of the Scriptures which ignores such distinctions must 
be wrong, because it implies a mistake on the part of 
God in the creation of them. God could have so 



152 The Crucial Eace Question 

ordered it that all men and women would have been of 
one color and race. The fact that he could have done 
so but did not do it, is to the thoughtful, reverent 
mind, proof positive and conclusive that in ordaining 
the existing features of differentiation He had in view 
the accomplishment of some great purpose. 

Now all right thinking persons recognize the great 
fundamental truth that so far as God's designs are 
concerned with the welfare of humanity they require 
the co-operation of its representatives. But, in propor- 
tion as we ignore the distinctions in question, we 
work against God and defeat His plans. Bishop 
Penick, who as a gifted Southern man, and some time 
Bishop in Africa, has probably devoted more intelli- 
gent thought to the Race Problem than any other 
American, gives forcible expression to this great basic 
truth which is so often lost sight of by Northern 
theorists in their attempts to solve the problem. A 
letter which he wrote to me, at the time when I was 
"under fire" on account of my first public advocacy of 
the division of the work of the Church among colored 
and white people and of the establishment of an Afro- 
American branch of the Catholic Church is so much to 
the point and so convincing that I quote a large part of 
it in the Appendix and repeat a paragraph or two here 

"This I say, is a 'Race Problem.' It holds all that the 
word race means, and that is a lot more than people 
stop to think of. It is far deeper than a 'color' matter. 
God made races and made them as different as ducks 
from chickens. To treat two races alike produces 
confusion, as real and radical, as to treat dogs and cats 
alike, or apples and watermelons. In each race are 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 153 

wrapped forces leading it on, fitting it for the work, 
that God has cut out for that race, and no other. 

"Do I make you see with me? Booker Washington 
as Booker Washington, is a grand fellow. But Booker 
Washington as George Washington, would be an 
awful misfit and sad failure. Why cannot we make 
people see this? It is certainly due to the Negro to 
show him the peril of Pharaoh's palace, and also to 
turn his face towards that mount where God waits to 
give him his ideal." 



II 



It is not true as it is so often and earnestly con- 
tended by Negroes and by the Catholic traditional- 
ists among white Churchmen, that the Arkansas Plan 
is at once a denial of three fundamental doctrines, the 
Catholicity of the Church, the Fatherhood of God and 
the Brotherhood of Man. 

We contend that our plan of drawing the Color-Line 
about the Diocesan and General Assemblies of the 
Church does not necessarily exclude Afro-Americans 
from the Church, any more than the action of Florida 
in disfranchising the Negro prevents him from living in 
that State. The Church is both a Spiritual and a Polit- 
ical institution, an invisible and a visible communion. 
She is one great tree with many branches and leaves 
innumerable. The Spiritual, the invisible, the great 
trunk portion of the Church is Catholic, for it may, and 
it should, and as a matter of fact it actually does, 
include all baptized persons without respect to any 
features of differentiation whatsoever. 



154 The Crucial Eace Question 

There is only one Church and it is Catholic in the 
sense of all-inclusiveness. Every baptized person is 
a leaf of some branch of the Catholic Church. But, 
mark you, the Church, like a tree, has separate 
branches and leaves. The Catholic part of the Church 
has for its boundaries humanity as a whole or at least 
that part of it which looks to Christ for the life that 
now is and is to come. The truth is that this is not 
properly called a "part" of the Church, for really it is 
the Church, the whole Church, trunk, branches and 
leaves. But the visible, political parts of the Church are 
in all cases a comparatively small branch, of which 
there are many similar branches more or less diverse 
and distinct, the one from the other. In the visible, 
political sense, the Catholic Church always has been, 
is now, and in this world, at least, always will be, more 
or less sectarian. 

Catholicity and Humanity represent parallel ideas 
of illimitability. Neither the one nor the other is limited 
by tribe, race or nation, much less by caste or family. 
The only limit of which Catholicity takes any account 
is a reception of the Christian Gospel through Chris- 
tian Baptism, but even here there is a sense in which 
the follower of Christ recognizes in an unbaptized 
person the potentiality of Christian discipleship and 
consequently looks upon him as a brother. Therefore 
the true Christian in a spiritual sense holds to the 
inspiring doctrines of the universal Fatherhood of 
God and Brotherhood of Man. God created all 
mankind of one blood so that there is but one all- 
inclusive humanity, invisible and indivisible. But God 
also created differentiating features by which, so to 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 155 

speak, Catholic humanity is sectarianized by individual, 
family, tribal, national and racial distinctions. 

Thus the drawing of the Color-Line in the visible 
Church by the Arkansas Plan is not, as it is often 
represented to be, the denial of the Universal Father- 
hood of God and Brotherhood of Man. Certainly this 
can not be true so long as the operation of the plan 
does not interrupt the spiritual unity of the Church 
that finds its expression in that mutual peace, good 
will, sympathy and helpfulness which in the ecumen- 
ical creed is designated by the "Communion of Saints." 
If, in the nature of things, there must be visible divi- 
sions among human beings, and if these divisions can 
and do exist without destroying the unity or Catho- 
licity of Humanity, there is no reason for believing 
that when we leave the civil realm of the family, tribe 
and state and enter the religious realm of the Church, 
the Divinely ordained differentiating features are to be 
ignored, or that the recognition of them is the destruc- 
tion of the spiritual Catholicity of the Church. 

As we cannot have a watch with one wheel, so we 
cannot have either a civil or an ecclesiastical world with 
one government. As there must be a unity of com- 
bination and mutual helpfulness in the wheels of a 
watch, so there should be a communion and mutual 
helpfulness in the several governmental administra- 
tions of both the civil and ecclesiastical worlds; but 
the idea of only one government in either of these 
worlds is as unphilosophical and as impracticable as 
would be the conception of a one-wheeled watch. 
Diversity in unity is the Divine scheme according to 



156 The Crucial Race Question 

which the world has been built. In the Anglo-Amer- 
ican Church we are losing sight of this fundamental fact, 
which is the key to the solution of all such administra- 
tive and philanthropic problems as the one which now 
confronts us in the appeal of Afro-American Church- 
men for racial Bishops and Jurisdictions. 

No rational explanation of the Divine commission of 
our Lord to his Apostles and their successors can 
make it out that we Anglo-Americans are required to 
bring Afro-Americans under the sway of our Episco- 
pate. Rather the necessity laid upon us by Him in 
that commission is to give them their own Episcopate 
and help them, by that sympathetic co-operation which 
is the result of the communion of one branch of the 
Catholic Church with another, to work out their own 
salvation. 



CHAPTER X 

An Afro-American Missionary Episcopate with Repre- 
sentation in the General Convention 



One of my main contentions in this essay is that the 
Negro must take a real, important part in the political 
government of himself if ever he is to amount to any- 
thing. How shall he do this? My answer is, that of 
the two great spheres of political self-government, the 
civil and religious, the latter is the only one that is 
now or ever will be open again to him in this country, 
and that if Afro-American Churchmen are to take 
advantage of their great and unique opportunities in 
this field, they must have their own completely organ- 
ized and independent Church. 

I often am asked, "Why do you advocate so strenu- 
ously the exclusion of the Negro from civil govern- 
mental affairs, and at the same time, are willing to 
entrust the weighty interests of the Church to him ?" To 
this inquiry I make one all-sufficient reply: Because 
(i) this is an Aryan white man's country and he will 
not allow the Negro or any other race to share the 
government with him, and (2) the Negro can govern 
himself in ecclesiastical affairs without conflict with 



158 The Crucial Eace Question 

his white brother ; in fact it is the only way by which 
he can avoid it. In order to prevent the conflict of 
races it is necessary, paradoxical as it may seem, that 
the Negro should in civil affairs be governed by the 
white man, and that in ecclesiastical affairs he should 
L govern himself. 

The Negro, I reiterate, can never hope to take any 
real active part in the civil government of this country, 
but he may become nevertheless a mighty power in 
the government of the United States by pursuing the 
course of the Israelites in Egypt and of the Christians 
in the Roman Empire. Ten millions of people who 
govern themselves well in the political realm of 
religion, as the Jews and Early Christians governed 
themselves in that realm, can bring about almost any- 
thing they want in the way of concessions from the 
civil, political government. The History of Judaism 
and Christianity show this to be the case. But the 
Afro-American, in seeking to take advantage of the 
civil privileges unwisely accorded him in the Fifteenth 
Amendment, is beginning at the wrong end in the 
matter of self-government, and making as much of a 
mistake as the Israelites would have made in Egypt or 
the Early Christians in Rome by an attempt to take a 
hand in the civil government. Perhaps somewhen and 
somewhere, Afro-Americans will govern themselves 
politically, but that will never be in this country or in 
any place, until a deep and broad foundation for the 
superstructure of civil self-government has been laid in 
religious self-government. 

There can be no real religious self-government 
for Afro-American Churchmen with "Missionary" 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 159 

Bishops and "representation" in the General Conven- 
tion. There is a point of view from which it may be 
seen by anybody that there is as much of politics in 
religious governments as in civil governments. In 
civil governmental affairs there is always a conflict 
going on, a conflict between different political 
parties, or different classes representing different 
interests. It is often a fierce conflict too. Sometimes 
so much so that it results in revolutionary wars. 
Whenever and wherever an alien race attempts to take 
any part in the civil government of a race which is 
established in power, there is a great conflict. While 
present conditions continue and there is not the slight- 
est prospect of a change, the issue of every such con- 
flict between Anglo-Americans and Afro-Americans in 
the future will be what it has been in the past. 

The General Convention is the political arena of the 
government of the Anglo-American Church, just as 
much so as Congress is of the government of the 
United States. What has been the history of the 
Negro in the political arenas of Diocesan Councils? 
But our Diocesan Councils are playthings compared 
with the General Convention. Who can see the 
slightest ground for the least hope that the Negro will 
succeed in that great national arena in spite of his 
complete and uniform failure in every Diocesan arena? 
In the very nature of things, as it is revealed by the 
whole history of Afro-Americans in the politics of 
both State and Church, there is not, and there cannot 
be, anything in a racial "Missionary" Episcopate with 
''representation" in the General Convention but the 
most humiliating defeat in every effort at self-assertion 



160 The Crucial Eace Question 

in opposition to Anglo-Americans. What is true of 
the Missionary Episcopate would be equally true of 
the Suffragan Episcopate. 

There is therefore absolutely nothing for the Afro- 
American Churchmen in any form of the Episcopate 
except only the one which will give them a completely 
independent and autonomous Church. Such an Epis- 
copate would be a great good to them because it would 
give them a perfect school in which to learn the all- 
important and indispensable art of self-government. 
Let then Afro-American Churchmen at their next Con- 
ference give up the idea of a Missionary or Suffragan 
Episcopate, which would be worthless and much worse 
than worthless to them, and ask for an Autonomous 
Episcopate the only one which possibly can be of any 
value to them. And let Anglo-American Churchmen 
not only create such an Episcopate, but also start it off 
with a college of say four Bishops and guarantee 
each Jurisdiction $20,000 a year for ten years. This 
would be a "Missionary" Episcopate and an "Experi- 
ment" that would amount to something. 

I once heard the distinguished Bishop Coadjutor 
of New York at a great Missionary meeting say some- 
thing that impressed me very much about undertaking 
Church extension and upbuilding work on a large and 
worthy scale. He insisted, "The money will come !" 
I believe he is right. If the General Convention will 
only have faith and wisdom enough to create an ade- 
quate Afro-American Episcopate of the right kind, the 
money will come for its support. The Bishop Coad- 
jutor of New York in a day each year at the work 
on Wall Street could raise the $80,000 for such a 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 161 

magnificent undertaking. If he cannot command the 
requisite time for this work, I believe that I can 
do it in a month, and I know that my Diocese will be 
glad to have me devote that much time each year to 
the securing of subscriptions for the carrying out of a 
scheme that would accomplish so much good and 
reflect such great credit upon the Church. I doubt 
whether any ecclesiastical legislative body in the 
whole religious history of the world ever had such an 
opportunity to set on foot so great and far-reaching 
a missionary movement as the Appeal of Afro-Amer- 
ican Churchmen gives to the Richmond General Con- 
vention. 

II 

Most evidently the advocates of an Afro-American 
"Missionary" Episcopate with "representation" in the 
General Convention have not taken into the account 
Caucasian and Negro natures. 

If our branch of the Catholic Church is ever to take 
deep root among Afro-Americans and be one of the 
great means of their salvation, we must, in my humble 
judgment, without delay give them an adequate Epis- 
copate ; and such an Episcopate, with the Jurisdictions 
involved, if fully represented in both Houses of the 
General Convention and in the Triennial meetings of 
the Woman's Auxiliary, would have a much worse 
effect upon the Church as a whole, South and North, 
than Afro-American representation has ever had in any 
Southern Diocese. 

I am of course aware of the answer that will be 
made to all this: "Don't lie awake nights thinking 



162 The Crucial Race Question 

about Negro representation in the General Convention.. 
There will not be enough of it to hurt anybody. No 
one intends that we shall have more than one Negro 
Missionary or Suffragan Bishop to begin with and that 
only as an experiment." But this kind of talk of which 
there is altogether too much, is not at all reassuring 
and comforting to me. For I have spent the whole of 
my ministerial life as a Missionary and, therefore, to 
my mind, the consecration of but one Negro Priest to 
be Bishop among all his people in this country would 
be an absurd act on the part of the General Conven- 
tion, which would excite criticism and even contempt 
both in and out of the Church, on the part of all who 
have any appreciation of the pressing character and 
stupendous magnitude of the work to be accomplished. 

Is it asked, where is the money coming from for the 
support of the adequate Episcopate which you would 
have the Richmond General Convention put into the 
field at once? I answer : We are per capita probably the 
richest Church on earth and there is many a single Lay- 
man among us who could, if he would, support muni- 
ficently an Afro-American Bishop, perhaps the whole 
Episcopate, without reducing the number of his auto- 
mobiles or private yachts. And we have the blessings 
of three hundred years of Anglo-American Christianity 
and the most desperate and pitiable needs that have 
ever cried to heaven for relief with which to touch the 
hearts of such. 

Let then all this talk about an "experiment" of "one" 
Afro-American Missionary or Suffragan Bishop cease 
from among us. It is childish. Every person who is 
at all competent to pass judgment upon the subject, 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 163 

sees clearly that the consecration of fewer than four 
Negro Bishops, one for the North and three for the 
South, would render us contemptible in the eyes of the 
Christian world ; and such see, with equal clearness, 
that we cannot safely open the doors of the General 
Convention to as many as four Negro Bishops and 
delegations, especially with the prospect of more 
than doubling their number within ten years. There is 
therefore nothing to be done, absolutely nothing, but 
to create an autonomous Afro-American Church. 

It would be a physical impossibility for one Afro- 
American Bishop to cover a territory which requires 
over twenty Anglo-American Bishops. To visit the 
existing congregations would more than consume his 
time. He could do no constructive work. If only 
two or three States were given him as his field, he 
might do in them a little something of what would be 
expected of him, but while this territory and the 
Negroes within were being benefited to some extent, 
what advantage would accrue to the Negroes in other 
parts from such an inadequate Episcopate? Should 
this "experimental" Bishop fail, as it is possible he 
might, would a fair test be given to the Plan of Negro 
Bishops? Would it be either a sensible or a just 
"experiment?" Square dealing requires that we 
should consecrate four or more of them and judge 
results by the total achievements of all rather than one. 

As to the request made by the Diocese of Missis- 
sippi that the Bishop of Africa be invited to undertake 
the work for three years of building up a Negro 
Missionary Jurisdiction in the South, it seems to me 
to be preposterous. Bishop Ferguson has already 



164 The Crucial Race Question 

lived the allotted years of man ; he is practically a 
stranger to Southern racial conditions, for he left the 
United States and went to Africa at six years of age. 
Hardships of railroad travel, such as Southern Negroes 
experience, when, as is frequently the case, they cannot 
purchase food or sleeping accommodations, could not 
be endured by such an old man ; and I am reasonably 
sure that he would feel that he is at least physically, 
unfit for the work to which it is suggested he should 
be called. What is needed is a man, several men, who 
have lived under the customs and traditions of the 
South, and who are of middle age, possessing the 
physique and endurance necessary for the demands of 
the field. With all due respect for the good work done 
by the Bishop of Africa, we would expect beforehand 
nothing but "failure" as the result of any effort of his 
to found and administer a Missionary Jurisdiction 
among Afro-Americans. 

I reiterate and insist that less than four Bishops for 
Negroes would be deplorable. One recent corre- 
spondent to a Church Weekly advocates two such 
Bishops, one for the North and one for the South. I 
agree with him that at present the demands of the 
North require but one such Bishop. But I cannot see 
by what method of analogous reasoning the conclusion 
is reached that there should be also only one in the 
South. The territory to be covered, and the millions 
to be reached, since four-fifths of the Negroes are in 
the South, indicate that at the very least three Bishops 
are necessary for the States below the Mason and 
Dixon Line. The work along the Atlantic sea board 
from Florida to Delaware certainly would require the 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 165 

undivided energies of one man. The middle Southern 
States, east of the Mississippi would keep a second 
busy enough, and a third might well spend all his 
time in the vast Southwestern region. Anything less 
than this would be trifling with a solemn responsibility. 



Ill 



There is nothing to be gained, absolutely nothing, 
and every thing may be lost by the attempt to con- 
summate the proposition of those who are engaged in 
the hazardous business of trying to exchange through 
a Missionary Episcopate a Negro representation in 
the General Convention for that which already is or 
soon will be a thing of the past in all Southern 
Dioceses. There is no use of trying in any way by 
any means to disguise the simple palpable fact that 
practically all white Churchmen in the South and 
many in the North feel it to be necessary to rid our 
Parochial and Diocesan organizations of their colored 
constituency, and by one means or another they are 
saying to it: "We do not want you to come 
in too great numbers, or in small numbers too 
frequently, to our Services for Divine worship ; we do 
not want you to send your children to our Sunday 
schools, and above all we do not want you in any 
capacity as officers and representatives in the Church. 
Still, we realize your need of our Church and we are 
ready to give it to you as far as this can be done with- 
out disregard of the Color-Line and without creating a 
schism in the Body of Christ, the Church." 



166 The Crucial Race Question 

To this many colored Churchmen are replying, and 
I honor them for their self-respecting dignity: "We 
do not desire to thrust ourselves upon those 
who do not want us. We have no anxious longing to 
come to your Churches for Divine Worship. We would 
much prefer to build churches for ourselves, in which 
under our own vine and fig-tree none dare make us 
afraid. We feel very uncomfortable in your Churches, 
for either we are bored by the attention superciliously 
given us in the North, or humiliated by the gallery or 
back seats assigned us in the South. We do not wish 
to send our children to your Sunday Schools, for expe- 
rience teaches us that they are always reminded there 
that a great gulf lies between the white and the colored 
child to the disadvantage of the latter. We do not 
care to join your parochial organizations, for we are 
never given opportunity to employ such talents as we 
may possess ; and as for your Clergy, we are free to say 
that our preference is for men of our own race, who 
are able to be true pastors over us without always 
fearing that they, or we, may in some manner cross 
the invisible but well-marked Color-Line. 

"We are not at ease in your Diocesan Councils when 
you permit us to attend them. We go in such cases 
from a sense of duty. You do not recognize our dele- 
gates even though their membership in your Conven- 
tions for long years may merit recognition. They are 
a part of the 'silent host' only breaking the silence with 
their 'Ayes' and 'Noes.' As for the receptions and other 
hospitality connected with these Conventions, very few 
of us attend them even in the North, as we feel that 
an absence gives us credit for common sense, and that 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 1G? 

by staying away we avoid much uncomfortableness. 
Those who speak to us on these occasions either dis- 
cuss the weather, or ask us about the few sheep we 
left in the wilderness, for a Negro is not supposed to 
know anything but the affairs of his race ; he may not 
join in the merry laugh nor appreciate a joke nor tell 
a story. But now and then we meet with each other 
in our Colored Conferences, and we feel all the manli- 
ness that others feel under like circumstances. We 
have not to swallow any pill of inferiority, however 
sugar-coated it may be. Moreover, we are given the 
various offices in such assemblies, and we get an oppor- 
tunity to develop ourselves along the line of self- 
government. 

"We thank you for not entirely depriving us of the 
blessings of your Church. We could wish that you 
would do unto us as we do unto you. When you visit 
our Churches, as occasionally you do, we show hospi- 
tality to strangers, as we may be entertaining angels 
unawares ; but since you have not as yet advanced as 
far in the observance of the Golden Rule as we have, 
and are not likely to do so while your human nature 
remains what it is, we will accept your Church never- 
theless. This is the essential thing, and we are not 
concerned about the non-essentials. Give us the 
Prayer-Book and the Episcopate, the kernels of your 
Worship, Doctrine, and Discipline, and we care not for 
the shell of your ecclesiastical edifices and assemblies. 
'Let there be no strife between us for we be brethren 
in Christ.' You go to the right and we will go to the 
left. This separation in location or of organization is 
but a convenience for an age, whether shorter or 



168 The Crucial Eace Question 

longer, but there is no division or schism created by 
this peaceful separateness. Christ's Body is not 
divided because we worship in buildings of our own 
or have separate organizations for government and 
work. We share the same Charter of Salvation, — 'One 
Lord, one Faith, one Birth.' We bless the same Holy 
Name; we partake of the same Holy Food; and with 
every grace endued, we press onward to the one hope 
of our calling. 

'We are not divided, All one Body we ; 
One in hope and doctrine, One in charity.' " 

I am not a stoic nor Calvinist but perhaps I am 
more or less of a predestinationalist and fatalist, and 
therefore in the all-important matter of Color-Line 
drawing I feel that the General Convention should 
recognize one fixed, immutable fact and act accord- 
ingly. That fact stated in the vernacular of a planta- 
tion Negro is "de Color-Line am done drawel" 

As the Rt. Rev. Dr. Galloway, a distinguished 
Bishop of the Methodist Church, South, in his famous 
address before the Birmingham session of the Confer- 
ence for Southern Education said : "In the study of 
this momentous question some things may be consid- 
ered as definitely settled. 

"i. In the South there never will be any social 
mingling of the races. Whether it be prejudice or 
pride of race, there is a middle wall of partition which 
will not be broken down. 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 109 

"2. The political power of this section will remain 
in the present hands. Here, as elsewhere, intelligence 
and wealth will and should control the administration 
of Government affairs. 

"3. They will be educated in separate schools and 
they will worship in separate Churches. This is alike 
desired by both races, and is for the good of each." 

That humble plantation "darkey" and that great 
Methodist Bishop agree in the statement of a fact. We 
cannot have it otherwise even in the most Catholic 
Church on earth, and the majority among us would not 
if we could. Let us therefore submit to the inevitable 
by recognizing the fact and by creating an autonomous 
Afro-American Episcopate and Church. 

If we give the Colored brethren the "Missionary" Epis- 
copate with "representation" in the General Convention, 
and the time ever comes when a half dozen Clerical and 
Lay delegates of them are in the Lower House, the 
people at the South, especially those who are not of 
our household faith, will say that the Episcopal Church 
is a "Nigger Church." Nt>r will that be all the diffi- 
culty. Afro-Americans, especially outsiders among 
them, will say, "the Episcopal Church is the White 
man's Church." Southern Churchmen, white or black, 
know what this would mean to both parties and all 
the interests concerned. Many good people of both 
races would stand aloof from the Church. 

Of course, if we should elect only one or two Afro- 
American Bishops and divide the whole South into 
as many Jurisdictions, the Colored Episcopate with its 
delegations would perhaps not be embarrassing and 
hurtful to an unbearable degree, but then, what good 



170 The Crucial Race Question 

would be done by two or three Colored Bishops with 
vast Jurisdictions? If an Afro- American Episcopate 
is to justify the hope that its friends, black and white, 
center in it, there must ultimately be nearly as many 
Colored Bishops in the "Black Belts" of the South as 
there are White Bishops now. 

Should it be asked why the 83 Negro delegates are 
not intolerable to the 667 white delegates of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal General Conference, I reply, that con- 
ference is exclusively a Northern body and the people 
of the North have not yet fully awakened to the neces- 
sity of drawing the Color-Line. 

If our branch of the Catholic Church is ever to take 
deep root among Afro-Americans and be one of the 
great means of their salvation, we must, in my humble 
judgment, without delay give them an adequate Epis- 
copate, and such an Episcopate, with the Jurisdictions 
involved, if fully represented in both Houses of the 
General Convention and in the Triennial meetings of 
the Woman's Auxiliary, would have a much worse 
effect upon the Church as a whole, South and North, 
than Afro-American representation has ever had in any 
Southern Diocese. 



CHAPTER XI 



Results of the Arkansas Plan. 



When I went to Arkansas I soon saw that my 
strength and resources were quite inadequate for the 
accomplishment of all that was to be done. I found a 
State of seventy-five large, quite populous counties, in 
fifty or more of which the foot of a Church Missionary 
had never been set, except "to pass by on the other side." 
I feel certain that no competent judge in Missionary 
matters, who knows of the adverse conditions with 
which I had to contend and of what has been accom- 
plished by God's great and gracious blessings upon our 
humble and imperfect endeavors, will think that we 
have not done all that could reasonably be expected. 
Nor will any such claim that in beginning with our 
white people, I commenced at the wrong end of the 
line or that I have done proportionately too much for 
them. 

Early in my Episcopate it became evident that to do 
successful work among the Colored people in my 



172 The Crucial Race Question 

Diocese, it would be necessary to set them apart in a 
Convocation of their own. For nearly twenty years the 
Church in Arkansas, with the aid of the Board of 
Missions, had been doing some work among the 
Colored people, but the net result was a moribund 
Parish of about forty persons. This colored congre- 
gation and its Rector took part in the governmental 
affairs of the Church in the Diocese. Their presence 
was not agreeable to a large number of our people, 
but my beloved predecessor was of the opinion that 
the Catholicity of the Church required their continu- 
ance. So there was a great deal of heart-burning 
among both white and colored Churchmen. 

It was impossible to do any more work among the 
Colored people, because of the attitude of the whites, 
and because of the reluctance of the Negroes to enter 
an organization in which they felt they were not wel- 
come. After we had organized our Convocation for 
the Colored people and secured a Negro Archdeacon 
of ability to administer it, the change of attitude on 
the part of both our White and Colored people was 
most gratifying to me, and the desert has suddenly 
blossomed as a rose. 

With gratitude I quote the following from the 
report of my colored Archdeacon, who has now been 
in the field about nineteen months, within which he has 
made two most remarkable reports to the annual 
sessions of our Diocesan Council. 

"St. Philip's Church, Little Rock, has continued its 
activities; its communicant membership has increased, 
and best of all, it has decided to be a Parish in deed as 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 173 

in name, paying all of its current expenses, including 
the stipend of its catechist, a young man who has 
recently came to us from the Methodist ministry. 

"St. James's Mission, in the southern section of 
Little Rock, has had erected upon its lot a beautiful 
chapel, so that our holdings there are now valued at 
$2,000. Our Church is the prettiest place of worship 
in that section of the city ; its Sunday school numbers 
50, although there are rival schools. We have also a 
creditable day school for the younger children who 
cannot attend the distant public schools. 

"St. Augustine's Mission, in Fort Smith, is that of 
which I feel proudest. In last July, I visited the 
'Border City' and lectured to the citizens on 'The 
Adaptability of the Episcopal Church to the Afro- 
American and Vice- Versa,' with the result that I was 
requested to begin at once a work in that community. 
The first service was held by me on August 5th, and a 
catechist, formerly a Baptist minister, was left in 
charge. In December the Bishop confirmed a class of 
24, in February a class of 10, and on last Sunday two 
persons more, a total of thirty-six in nine months." 

************* 

"You will be delighted to learn that we have also 
been making some progress in the matter of self- 
support. We are ambitious to help ourselves, rather 
than, as in the past years, to look to the Bishop and 
outside resources for everything needed. The sum of 
$965.00 may not appear very large, but it is with some 
degree of pride and satisfaction that I report that this 
sum has been collected in the various Missions, most 



174 The Crucial Eace Question 

of them less than a year old. Here is the list of our 
congregations with the amount each has raised : 

St. Philip's, Little Rock $300.00 

St. James', Little Rock 25.00 

St. Andrew's, Pine Bluff 200.00 

St. Augustine's, Fort Smith 155.00 

St. Mary's, Hot Springs 240.00 

St. Luke's, Newport 45.00 

"Our methods of work have not failed to attract the 
attention of those outside our Diocese. The 'Arkansas 
Plan' for doing the work of our Church among the 
colored people, as you well know, meets my hearty 
approval. We are grappling at present, not with ideal 
theories of Church oneness and equality, but with the 
actual conditions confronting us. What the distant 
future may accomplish in the way of obliterating racial 
lines in State, in Church, or in Society, is no very 
grave concern of ours. The fact cannot be denied that 
at present there must be total cleavage — complete 
separation — all along these lines, if we desire peace, 
success, and full development for all parties. Real- 
izing this truth we have gone to work in the only 
natural and right way, and the results have been 
widely noted and commended. The Church is becom- 
ing convinced, that we are working along practical, 
if not ideal lines." 

The single, little dispirited, pauperized congregation 
that we had before the drawing of the Cilor-Line has, 
as will appear from the above report, grown into a self- 
supporting parish and multiplied itself by six, as to 
congregations, and quadrupled itself as to communi- 
cants ; our Convocation property has increased from 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 175 

$1,200 to $12,000, and the staff of Missionaries from 
one to eight. While the government of the Convoca- 
tion is legally not entirely autonomous, yet practically 
it is so. Opportunity is given the people to manage 
their own affairs. The result is that they feel their 
responsibility more, and contribute much; towards 
their local support. The fact that the work is now 
largely directed by an Archdeacon of their own race 
appeals to many Colored people, but not until there is 
full independence, under Negro Bishops, will they 
come in any large numbers into the Church. The 
drawing of the Color-Line has brought success. But 
the line must be drawn more clearly and higher, if 
permanent success is to be achieved. 

But this comparative showing of the accomplish- 
ments of the past few months, when placed in contrast 
with the failure of many years to do anything, really 
tells but little more than half the story. Without a 
knowledge and consideration of the inspiring fact that 
"a great door is open to us" now, which hitherto had 
been shut, the reader will have a very inadequate con- 
ception of what the drawing of the Color-Line means 
to the Church in Arkansas. Moreover it must be 
understood that every attempt to open that door before 
we drew the Color-Line was harmful to the "white 
Church." I am perfectly sure that the Church in 
Arkansas was set back at least a quarter of a century 
by the representation of that one little still-born 
colored Mission in the Diocesan Council. 

Many of the great troubles which brought my ven- 
erable and learned predecessor in sorrow to the grave, 
grew out of his prolonged and persistent attempt to 



176 The Crucial Race Question 

do something through the Church for the poor, neg- 
lected, straying colored sheep of his fold without 
sufficiently drawing the Color-Line. 

■ Developments at the South, in the Great American 
Race Problem, have been of late years rapid and in 
a direction tending to make the ideals of Bishop Pierce 
respecting the relationship of the Negro to the "White 
Man's Church," and the ideals of the Republican Party 
respecting the Negro's relationship to the "White Man's 
Country," simply impossible of realization. I am not here 
discussing the Tightness or wrongness of these ideals, 
but only insisting that they cannot be realized by even 
such great, strong men as Henry Niles Pierce on a 
Bishop's throne or a Theodore Roosevelt in the Presi- 
dent's Chair. Such ideals can never be materialized 
by an ecclesiastical or political leader or party, and it 
will be far better for both Church and State to recog- 
nize this fact and govern themselves accordingly. 
Indeed it is vital that they should do so. 

We have now formulated and announced our plans to 
enter the wide "open door" by adding at least two 
new Churches, one Rectory and one Minister to our 
Afro-American Convocation every year for the next 
ten years. The announcing of such plans before the 
drawing of the Color-Line would have stopped all 
progress in the Diocese of Arkansas and have made a 
martyr of me. I don't want to be a martyr! In the 
light of Bishop Pierce's sad experience, I reached the 
conclusion that I would rather be "an angel" of the 
people of my race than to become a martyr by reason 
of a fruitless effort to be the Bishop of two races. 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 177 

II 

This showing of what might be expected as the 
result of autonomy for our Afro-American brethren in 
the Lord would be most incomplete without some 
reference to what the autonomous Methodist Epis- 
copal Negro Churches have accomplished. 

One class of Autonomous Methodist Churches orig- 
inated among the Negroes themselves without the 
agreement of the whites. The direct causes of the 
separation were (i) discrimination made against the 
blacks during Divine Worship, (2) the desire of 
Colored people to obtain equal privileges and advant- 
ages of government denied them in the congregations 
of which they were members. Several such congrega- 
tions sprung up about the same time in different cities 
of the North or Border States, and very early in the 
19th century, two denominations were organized from 
these scattered congregations, — The African Meth- 
odist Episcopal (Bethel) Church, of which Richard 
Allen was elected the first Bishop, and the African 
Methodist Episcopal (Zion) Church, of which James 
Varick was made the first Superintendent or Bishop. 

The autonomous Negro Methodist Churches and 
the Negro Baptists all urge the Negroes of the Epis- 
copal Church to accept autonomy if it is forthcoming. 
They know what it has accomplished for themselves, 
and are rejoiced to hear that I advocate an Afro- 
American Episcopal Church. They ask our colored 
Clergy, "Why don't you accept Bishop Brown's Plan?" 
And the colored Clergy have no answer. They are 
fearful that if they answer in the way they should, it 



178 The Crucial Kace Question 

would be construed that they desire schism. The 
opinion of the schismatic Negro Methodist Churches 
is that such an Afro-American Episcopal Church 
would meet success, as in the case of the Methodist 
Church of Negroes set up by the Southern White 
Methodists, but that the success of Negro Episcopa- 
lians would be greater as secessions would be made to 
them by many Methodist bodies as soon as they 
possessed a valid and independent Episcopate. 

The first colored Episcopal congregation in Phila- 
delphia grew out of the same causes from which the 
schismatic Methodists originated, and about the same 
time. St. Thomas' Church in that city was accepted 
as a congregation in the Diocese of Pennsylvania under 
the supervision of Bishop White, but with the express 
understanding that it should never seek representation 
in the Diocesan Convention. In 1795 Absalom Jones 
was ordained by the same Bishop for the congregation. 
He was the first Negro to become a Clergyman in the 
Church. St. Thomas' was a self-supporting congrega- 
tion from the start. It built its Church, and then 
sought connection with the Episcopal Church. 

If, instead of the anomalous position which this 
Parish and its Rector occupied from the start, an inde- 
pendent Church had been organized and Absalom 
Jones, whose education was far superior to that of 
Allen or Varick, had been consecrated a Bishop for his 
people, can it be doubted that such autonomy would 
have brought about more success in the Church's work 
among these people? St. Thomas' Parish, Philadel- 
phia, was organized over a century ago, about the 
same time that the Autonomous Methodist Churches 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 179 

were organized. What has this Church of ours to show 
in all the United States for this whole century of effort? 
One hundred and twenty Clergymen, and about 200 
congregations with not 10,000 communicants. We 
may point to about three or four schools or colleges 
for them. This only, with all the influence, Catholicity, 
and wealth of the American Church. What has been 
done by these two African autonomous Churches? 

The Bethel Connection of the A. M. E. Church has 
now about 500,000 members, 5,000 churches, a large 
number of colleges, and $7,000,000 of Church property. 

The Zion Connection of the A. M. E. Church has 
400,000 members, 1,750 Churches, several colleges, and 
property worth $3,500,000. 

Other independent Negro Churches which have 
seceded from these two older bodies, have in the aggre- 
gate about 10,000 members, 100 churches and $250,000 
worth of Church property. 

The autonomous Negro Churches of the South 
which have been organized with the mutual consent of 
white and colored members of the denominations con- 
cerned have grown in proportion. Indeed, some have 
done better than those which were schismatic. 
. The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church might be 
called the Negro wing of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. In i860, there were 207,000 colored 
members in the Southern Conferences of Methodism. 
In 1866, at the close of the War, the two autonomous 
Negro Churches of the North entered the South and 
there was such a flocking of colored members of the 
white Methodist Church to the Negro Autonomous 



180 The Crucial Eace Question 

Churches that the 207,000 were reduced to 78,000 in a 
single year. To what was this depletion due? The 
white Methodists knew the cause, and immediately 
organized the remnant into separate congregations and 
annual conferences. But no Bishop was appointed 
from the Negro Race. In 1870, — four years after, — it 
became evident to the white Methodists that nothing 
short of an autonomous Church would check the 
secession of their colored remnant, and the general 
conference of that year appointed two Bishops of that 
race to organize the colored conferences into a sepa- 
rate and independent Church. Thus in December, 
1870, the new body started as the "Colored Methodist 
Episcopal Church." It has the same articles of 
religion, the same form of government, and the same 
discipline as the parent body. For many years the 
schismatic Negro Bodies of Methodists strongly 
opposed these members of the Colored Methodist Epis- 
copal Church because of their relation to the Methodist 
Church, South, but this prejudice has disappeared, and 
the two bodies now willingly admit that the progress 
numerically and financially of the Colored Methodist 
Church has been due to the friendliness and substantial 
aid given by the white Methodists in every community 
where this branch of colored Methodists erected its 
Churches. Though only one-third the age of the two 
schismatic Negro Methodist Churches, the Colored 
Methodist Episcopal Church has now five Bishops, 
150,000 members, 1,850 Churches, many colleges and 
$2,000,000 worth of property. This is wonderful con- 
sidering that nearly three-fourths of their members 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 181 

had seceded just before organization, and that opposi- 
tion from their Negro schismatic brethren continued 
for about twenty-five years or more. 

Take another colored independent Church. In 1869, 
in Tennessee, the General Assembly of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church organized its colored min- 
isters and members into the "Cumberland Presbyte- 
rian Church (Colored)." The first Synod was held in 
1874. It has the same doctrinal symbol, the same gov- 
ernment and discipline as the parent body and differs 
only in race. Financial aid is given by the parent 
body. There are now 25 Presbyteries in about ten 
States. There are nearly 200 churches, 15,000 commu- 
nicants, and over $200,000 worth of Church property. 
Compare this wing of colored Presbyterianism, in a 
small section of the country, with the work of our 
Church for a hundred years among Negroes, and even 
this independent organization, not of Methodists, but 
of Presbyterians, only 38 years old, has one-half more 
members than the Episcopal Church can show among 
the Colored people of the United States. Is there any- 
thing in autonomous ecclesiastical organizations for 
successful efforts among Negroes? Let the above 
statistics answer. 

I think that an entirely separate and completely 
autonomous ecclesiastical organization for colored 
Churchmen is an ultimate and unavoidable necessity. 
I hold to this opinion, among other good and sufficient 
reasons, because of the fact that the Colored people of 
the South will not in any great numbers come into the 
Episcopal Church without it. It is a simple matter of 



182 The Crucial Eace Question 

undisputed fact that the several independent, auton- 
omous Methodist and Baptist bodies are the only 
organizations of Christians that have any considerable 
hold upon the Negro, North or South. Statistics 
clearly show this to be the case. 

The autonomous or independent, self-governing 
Negro Churches have the following percentage of the 
whole strength of organized Afro-American Chris- 
tianity : 

Congregations or organizations 82 per cent. 

Church edifices „._ 83 per cent. 

Halls used for religious purposes 70 per cent. 

Communicants or members 87 per cent. 

Value of Church property yy per cent. 

No doubt the revival system of these independent 
Methodist and Baptist Churches, and the emotional 
nature of the Negro, account in some measure for their 
comparatively great success, but unquestionably the 
major cause of it is the fact that they are autonomous 
Churches. They are governed by the Negro for the 
Negro and hence their popularity with the Negro. 
You may get up all the revivals that you please in the 
colored Churches which are simply attachments to 
white Churches, and the colored people will not come 
into or remain in them. They want and will have their 
own Churches. I know of no stronger argument in 
favor of giving our colored brethren their own Bishops 
and Jurisdictions than the wonderful success, so far 
as numbers are concerned, of their self-governing 
Churches and the hopeless outlook of all others. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Failure of the White Ministry Among Colored 

People 



It is stoutly maintained by the able Bishops of 
Georgia and Alabama that it is necessary both for the 
safety of the Church and the good of the colored 
people, that our work among them should be done 
chiefly if not wholly by a white Ministry or at least 
that it must be supervised by white Bishops. And this 
is the view taken also by the distinguished Bishop of 
Maryland and the Bishops of the Dioceses in the State 
of Virginia. 

The Church has done work among the Negroes 
along the "Atlantic Sea Board" ever since they were 
brought to this country in 1619. The first Negro child 
born in America was baptized in the Episcopal Church 
in the year 1624. Thousands of Negroes were mem- 
bers of the Church previous to the Civil War. In the 
Diocese of South Carolina our colored outnumbered 
our white communicants. But at the 1868 session of 
the convention of that Diocese, only three years after 
the close of the Civil War, the Rev. Dr. Hanckell, 



184 The Crucial Race Question 

Chairman of the Committee on the State of the 
Church, said in his report: ''In many of our Parishes 
the falling off in the number of (colored) communi- 
cants is lamentable in the extreme. In some Parishes 
where they were numbered by hundreds there are now 
none. In others the number of communicants has been 
reduced one-half or one-fourth. In i860 the whole 
number of colored communicants was 2,960. There 
have been reported to us only 291. In one Parish 
fourteen chapels built for their use, in another five, in 
several two or three, all are deserted." 

How shall we account for this falling off of 90 per 
cent of the colored communicants of the Diocese of 
South Carolina between the years i860 and 1868? 
Where did they go? The African Methodist 
Churches swallowed them up ! The racial feeling was 
greater than the love of the Church. The Negro 
Churchmen of those times were as a whole in every 
way a much higher grade of people than the Negro 
Methodists but they preferred to be led by Bishops 
and to be ministered to by Pastors of their own race. 
True, the colored Methodist Bishops and Ministers 
were not always good shepherds, but the people knew 
their voice and they followed them rather than the 
more exemplary white shepherds, whose voice they no 
longer knew, and under the changed conditions never 
can or will know again ; ever since the War it has 
been growing weaker and less distinct to them until 
now they pay little or no attention to it. 

The general impression has gotten abroad that of 
late years a great work has been done by the Church 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 185 

in the Diocese of South Carolina under the excep- 
tionally able leadership of her white Archdeacon, 
but in eleven years, from 1892 to 1903, the actual 
increase of communicants as the result of all his inde- 
fatigable work and that of his large corps of co-laborers, 
all the money expended in its maintenance, 130! In 
Arkansas where the Color-Line has been drawn and 
where we have a colored Archdeacon the increase, in 
less than two years, has been 130. And in order to 
appreciate fully the significance of this contrast, it must 
be remembered that the white Archdeacon of South 
Carolina had a very much larger colored constituency 
both of communicants and Clergy, and a great deal 
more of both Church property and money back of him 
than the colored Archdeacon of Arkansas has had. 

We have no reliable ante-bellum statistics regarding 
the adherence of Negroes to the Church for several 
of the old Southern Dioceses, but the conditions and 
history of South Carolina are generally believed to be 
quite representative. It is certain that all along the 
line there was a great falling off, of from 75 to 90 per 
cent in our colored constituency. 

Georgia now computes her Negro Church member- 
ship to be about 1,000, and when anyone speaks of the 
failure of the work of the Church among Afro-Amer- 
icans under white leadership, these 1,000 communicants 
are held up as if it were a sufficient and unanswerable 
refutation of a slanderous representation ; and to all 
appearance the work does seem to have prospered here 
more than elsewhere. But though we rejoice in this 
oasis of the vast desert and would not for the world 
sterilize it yet we feel that the interests of truth 



186 The Crucial Race Question 

require that we should call attention to the fact that it 
really does not, on account of its supposed great fruit- 
fulness, afford a secure basis for the conclusion that 
there is no necessity for the drawing of the Color-Line 
through the Episcopal Church. For as a matter of 
fact the Church in Georgia long has had a good deal of 
that line and she has more of it now than she had two 
or three years ago. She always has had separate 
Churches for her colored and her white people, and 
lately she has drawn a compromise Color-Line around 
her Diocesan Convention in the creation of "The 
Georgia Council of Colored Churchmen," which prac- 
tically is a Negro Convocation. Over it has been 
placed a colored Archdeacon. 

Moreover it should not be forgotten by those who 
are inclined to think that everything that glitters is 
gold, that the colored part of the Church in Georgia, 
has greatly profited, in common with all her sister 
Border States, especially Florida, by emigration of 
Negro Churchmen from the West Indies, and yet an 
investigation would show that Georgia has not much 
more than held her own. She, too, probably, has fewer 
communicants than she had before the War. Of her 
estimated 1,000 communicants of the colored race, 
about 600 are members of three congregations which 
have been in existence for many years. 

What has been the percentage of growth in the 
Colored Work in Georgia during the entire 15 years of 
the present Episcopate, I cannot now tell, but I have 
statistics at hand for the year 1897 and am able to form 
an estimate of the growth of that work during the last 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 187 

nine or ten years of the current Episcopate, presum- 
ably the most successful portion of it. At the begin- 
ning of the period referred to there were 764 Negro 
communicants in Georgia, at the end of it, 941, showing 
an increase of 18 per cent, in ten years! Only one 
new Church has been organized in this period, that at 
Macon. It is true that in Frederica two missionary 
efforts are being made by the white Rector in that 
town, but as yet no communicants have been reported. 
One Church in Marietta reported no communicants 
ten years ago. It reports one now ! And the largest 
of the Parishes in Georgia, that in Burroughs, shows 
in the "Annual" today exactly what it did ten years 
ago, — the number of communicants as 196. Granting 
that there may be errors in these statistics, yet it may 
fairly be admitted that under one of the strongest of 
our white Bishops the Negro work in Georgia has not 
been such a wonderful success as is popularly supposed. 
Much money has been given to Georgia. There is a 
strong staff of Negro Clergymen in that Diocese. In 
Arkansas we have but one Clergyman and a staff of 
Catechists. We have no money at present to employ 
other Clergymen, yet in the short time of 18 months, 
our communicant membership has grown in this Dio- 
cese from about 40 to 165, an increase of 125. The 
old and half dead Parish of St. Philip's, Little Rock, 
which had become almost barren, has doubled its 
membership and at date of writing has 80 communi- 
cants, although for 15 years it reported an estimated 
membership of 40, year after year. Not only has 
the old Parish suddenly doubled its membership, but 



188 The Crucial Kace Question 

five new Missions have come into birth, and are rival- 
ing the old mother in increase, for about 53 per cent 
of the communicant membership is to be found in these 
new Missions, only two of which are yet a year old. 
And all this comparatively wonderful, and I sometimes 
say, this phenomenal change, has been made possible by 
the separation of the work from the white work, and 
the placing of it under Negro management and leader- 
ship as far as possible. 

And I firmly believe that if instead of an Archdea- 
conry, we had full autonomy for the Negroes of 
Arkansas, with a Church and Bishop of their own 
apart from, but in communion with, the Mother Amer- 
ican Church, the success of the work here would have 
been multiplied ten-fold. 



II 



It is a simple matter of fact that the records, so far 
as they are known or so far as they can be judged of 
by reasonable probabilities everywhere show that no 
white Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has been a great 
success in his work among the colored people. The 
most successful among them have simply held what 
was left them and reaped a small natural increase. If 
immediately after the War, Negro leadership had been 
given to the 2,960 communicants of South Carolina it 
cannot be supposed that they would have been reduced 
to 291. And even after the falling off had taken place, if 
only the Church had been wise enough to place a few 
colored Bishops among the remnant here and there 
throughout the Southeland, we, in all probability, should 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 189 

have at least two or three times as many communi- 
cants of the Church as we now have. Indeed the mul- 
tiple might easily have been much greater, for it is an 
open secret that many very prominent Methodist min- 
isters, some Bishops among them, were dissatisfied with 
the colored Methodist Episcopate, and would have been 
strongly disposed to come to the Church, had there 
been an Autonomous Negro Episcopate. 

Let us not, however, shed useless tears over spilled 
milk, but see that we have no further cause for weep- 
ing by making a favorable response to the appeal of 
our Afro-American brethren for Bishops and Mission- 
ary Jurisdictions of their own. For is there not reason 
enough to believe that if the Church refuses to grant 
this request our 9,000 communicants will be further 
decimated? As we have shown above, in our new 
Missionary effort for Negroes in Arkansas, where as 
much as it is possible the work has been separated 
from the white work and administered by a colored 
leader, in less than two years the communicant 
membership has increased from 40 to 165 and in 
the next year the present number in all likelihood 
will be very nearly doubled. Compare the results 
of this entirely new movement, along the right and 
natural lines, with the showing made, for example, 
by the Diocese of North Carolina where they have 
a colored Archdeacon, too, but no rigid Color-Line 
in their Diocesan Council, where there are fifteen 
congregations, many of them established before the 
War, where much money has been spent all these 
years by the Board of Missions, and where at present 
there are but 600 communicants, not quite four times 



190 The Crucial Race Question 

the number of communicants in the Diocese of 
Arkansas. If these comparisons do not show the 
desirability and necessity of drawing the Color-Line, 
a revelation from heaven would not do so. 

After the War there was also a tremendous falling 
off in the colored membership of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, from 270,000 to 78,000, but that 
Church wisely determined to organize the small rem- 
nant of its colored constituency into the independent 
and autonomous "Colored Methodist Episcopal 
Church." That Church is regarded as the child of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and there is a 
helpful communion without any organic relationship 
between them. The Child Church under the helpful 
guidance, sympathy and co-operation of the Mother 
Church has been fruitful and multiplied, until now it 
has over two hundred and fifty thousand members. 

The good citizenship of this Church's membership is 
a matter of common observation on the part of white 
people throughout the Southland. Altogether it is a 
glorious record, and something relatively corresponding 
to it will be made by Afro-American Churchmen, if only 
we are as wise as our Southern Methodist brethren 
were, when they were called upon to deal with an 
appeal for a racial episcopate from the Negro members 
of their household of faith ; otherwise we certainly have 
no mission to the Afro-American. This people is call- 
ing across the gulf for us to come over into Macedonia 
and help them. The command of the Saviour to us is 
to go, but instead of heeding the call and obeying the 
command in the only way that is possible to do so, by 
throwing the line of the episcopate across and making 



The Ecclesiastical Color-Line 191 

it the beginning of a suspension bridge for intercom- 
munion between two independent Churches, we are 
bidding them to leap across to us, across the Color- 
Line gulf that runs through our Parishes, across the 
Color-Line gulf that runs more or less completely 
around our Diocesan and General Conventions. The 
commission is to go to all nations, more literally, all 
races; we in the pride of a false Catholicity have been 
standing off, and saying, "Come !" God grant that at 
Richmond this Church may at last say: "Arise! Let 
us go!" In this as in so many other matters it is better 
late than never. 

In the early days of Christianity, we find that 
wherever the Church took root a native Episcopate 
was established at a very early date . If the Christian 
ministry had to be confined to Jews our Holy religion 
could have no future and the fact that the ministry 
was happily not so confined points out to us our duty 
in the case of the appeal of Afro-American Church- 
men. We have done the preliminary work in the case 
of this race, now let us go on in the way of obedience 
to the great commission by answering their Mace- 
donian cry for the help of a native Episcopate. 

But some one will say, we must manage in some 
way to keep the oversight of the Episcopate that we 
may give to Afro-American Churchmen. Because it 
will never do to entrust such a sacred office to such a 
people. But, I ask, is that office any more sacred than 
the Gospel itself or than the other orders of the min- 
istry? The Jewish Christians had a pretty low estima- 
tion of the Gentiles, but they nevertheless gave them 
an Episcopate. 



192 The Crucial Race Question 

Again it will be objected, the Gentiles were the 
equals of the Jews in many respects, though not in 
religious aspects, while the American Negro is of infer- 
ior race. But Christ came to save the world, the 
inferior as well as the superior parts of it, and the 
command to the Episcopate is: "Go ye into all the 
world and preach the Gospel to every creature and 
every race." No one who gives due consideration to the 
emphasis which our Saviour put upon the fact that the 
poor were to have the Gospel preached unto them will 
contend that the inferior races are not to have the 
Church in its entirety. 

A great deal is said about the inferiority of the 
Negro as a reason why the Episcopate should not be 
given to him ; and, as compared with the Caucasian, 
there is no doubt in my mind that his race is among 
the inferior ones. But when, for the worthy purpose 
of showing the necessity of protecting our race by 
drawing the Color-Line about our social, political and 
religious institutions, we call attention to the infer- 
iority of the Negro, it is no more than fair to him 
that we should make acknowledgment of the palpable 
fact that he is by no means the scum of humanity, for 
as a race he is almost as superior to some other races 
as ours is to his. By the common consent of travelers 
and ethnologists the Negroes are far above many 
other peoples. 



The Crucial Race Question 



LECTURE IV 

Objections to the Arkansas Plan 

CHAPTER XIII. Why This Negro Went From the Sunny South to 

the Windy City, or the Need of an Afro-American 
Moses. 

CHAPTER XIV. The Catholic's Objection to the Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER XV. The Idealist's Objeaion to the Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER XVI. The Southerner's Objection to the Arkansas Plan. 

CHAPTER XVII. The Archdeacon's Looking Glass, or the Con- 
clusion of the V/hole Matter. 



PREFATORY 



In view of the showing of the preceding chapters of this 
book, the continuation of an argument for the purpose of prov- 
ing the necessity and possibility of some favorable response to 
the reiterated, natural and reasonable appeal of Afro-American 
Churchmen for Bishops and Jurisdictions of their own, would 
appear, in ordinary discussions, to be a work of supererogation. 
But the Episcopalian advocate of ecclesiastical Color-Line draw- 
ing finds it necessary to pile "precept upon precept, line upon 
line; here a little and there a little," because, in addition to 
the ordinary prejudices and misconceptions to be overcome, he 
runs directly counter to a deep-rooted, widely spread erroneous 
idealistic doctrine respecting the Catholicity and Unity of the 
Church. 

In order, therefore, that the whole field of objections to the 
action recommended to the General Convention by the Diocese 
of Arkansas might be covered adequately, a large part of this 
Lecture (Chapters XIII and XIV) has been devoted to the 
consideration of the question of whether or not an independent 
Afro-American Episcopate and Church can be created without 
incurring a heavy responsibility for the deadly sin of schism 
in the Body of Christ. 

These chapters, XIII and XIV, are intended to answer the 
great objections of Anglo-American Catholics both North and 
South, black and white. In Chapter XIII an effort is made to 
show from historical considerations that there is no reason 
why there should not be Caucasian and Negro Bishops within 
the same geographical limits, having spiritual jurisdiction over 
the people of their respective races. In Chapter XIV this ques- 
tion of overlapping Episcopal jurisdictions is treated from the 
stand-point of expediency. 

It is hoped that Chapter XVI will contribute something 
towards the removal of one of the most prevalent and serious 
among the objections to a Negro Episcopate that are peculiar 
to the South. In it we undertake to show, that contrary to the 
opinion of many, we have good and sufficient reason for believ- 
ing that Afro-American Bishops would succeed with their people 
where Anglo-American Bishops have failed among them. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Why This Negro Went from the Sunny South to the 
Windy City, or the Need of an Afro-American 
Moses. 

It seems that the idea has spread among the Negroes 
of the South that, if they go North, they will be able 
to so far pass the Color-Line as to materialize the 
philosophy of Wendell Phillips and Professor DuBois 
by the marrying of white women. One of my Clergy 
told me of an experience of his in Chicago which 
shows this to be the case. A few years ago, when they 
still had colored waiters in the great hotels of that 
city, he ate his dinner at one of them. He was taken 
to a table where a Northern man was seated. The 
Northern man complained that the waiter was pro- 
vokingly slow and unaccommodating. The man was 
pressed for time in which to meet an important 
appointment and had told the waiter so, and yet fully 
ten minutes had elapsed and he was just appearing 
away at the other end of the spacious dining-hall with 
a glass of water, and his pace was exasperatingly 
slow. The Clergyman made up his mind that he 
would try to do his nervous and communicative 
companion a favor and at the same time save himself 
the annoyance of a similar experience. So he said, 
"Look here, Sam, what is the matter with you? 



196 The Crucial Eace Question 

This gentleman tells me that he gave a 'rush' order 
and that he has been waiting ten minutes ; and now 
you have come moping along with nothing but a glass 
of water! You get a move on you or there will be 
something doing around here." The negro was 
startled, as if by a clap of thunder out of the clear sky, 
and replying, "Yes, massa," he did get a move on, 
which was as astonishing as it was gratifying to the 
hungry, hurried Northerner. 

It was the first time that the Arkansas Clergyman 
had been North and so as he put it "that nigger was 
interesting to me." After his companion had "bolted" 
his dinner, in true Northern fashion, and left with a 
cordial expression of gratitude, some questions were 
asked. "What is your name?" "Robert, sir." "Where 
did you come from?" "Miss'ippi, sir." "What did you 
come up here for?" There was a pause and evident 
embarrassment. "I don't likes to tell, sir." "But you 
must tell. I want to know why you left dear old 
sunny Miss'ippi to come up to this windy, cold, 
gloomy country?" "Well, sir, I done come to gets a 
white woman." "You black scoundrel ! Have you suc- 
ceeded?" "No sir; but I is tryin' and I reckon I finds 
one that will hab me some time, cause two or three 
odder niggers got 'em." 

It is my firm conviction, that this kind of thing is 
encouraged by every person who, upon any condition 
whatsoever, holds out the hope of either political or 
ecclesiastical equality to the American Negro. I am 
not acquainted with any white people, North or 
South, who are in sympathy with Professor DuBois, 
for his almost undisguised frankness in giving 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 197 

expression to the hope of intermarriage and absorption 
nauseates every sane Anglo-Saxon or Aryan. But, 
even among Southerners there are many who 
are inclined to look upon the so-called Booker 
Washington's scheme, with approval, and Northerners 
generally simply rave over it. This Southern sym- 
pathy and Northern enthusiasm, I am convinced, are 
due in part to failure to appreciate the fact that the 
conditional political equality which Doctor Washing- 
ton holds up as a prize to his people, is inevitably 
linked with miscegenation, and the consequent efface- 
ment of the black race and the degradation of the 
white. 

The true Afro-American Moses, when he comes, will 
set up a standard of righteousness and industry rather 
than that of education and financial achievements 
with a view of securing political suffrage, and he will 
draw the Color-Line around his domestic hearth and 
religious shrine. A Clergyman of Philadelphia told 
me that he once knew an unusually highly educated, 
wealthy and influential colored man who told him that 
he would be willing to be "flayed alive" if he could be 
sure that his "skin would come back white." In any. 
attempt to improve the condition of a race, many of 
whose representatives undoubtedly have feelings 
resembling those of that poor man, the first thing to 
be undertaken is the creation of race pride and ideals. 
I know of nothing that the Episcopal Church could do 
to this important, indispensable end that would count, 
for as much as the adoption of the Arkansas Plan in the 
creation of an autonomous Afro-American Church. 



198 The Crucial Race Question 

In the Southern Negro, we have the curious and 
perplexing anomaly of a maximum of religious fervor 
and a minimum of moral practice. This being the case, 
there is no organization of Christians in the country 
which can do so much for the Negro as the Episcopal 
Church. The emotional, noisy type of religion, is, no 
doubt, what the average Negro more naturally takes 
to, but what he really needs is the sober, ethical, ele- 
vating influence of the services and teachings of this 
Church. 

The fact that the Southern Negro needs the whole- 
some medicine of the moral doctrine delivered by the 
Episcopal Church above all other religious medicines, 
and the fact that he needs it so badly and in such 
large doses, places a tremendous and most solemn 
responsibility upon us. It is one of the main purposes 
of this book to show that in order to discharge her 
responsibility to Afro-Americans the Episcopal Church 
must organize her Negro Clergy and Laity into an 
entirely separate, self-governing Church by giving 
them independent Bishops of their own. 

The only hope I see for the Afro-American is in 
religion and righteousness and work. All the other 
stars are fading from his sky ; only these remain. The 
white man has been the Negro's god, and competition 
with the white man has been his ruin. Let him now 
turn at last through an autonomous Episcopate and 
Church to the God of Heaven and of righteousness 
who worked six days and rested only one, and he 
shall be saved, otherwise he must be lost. 



CHAPTER XIV 

The Catholic's Objection to the Arkansas Plan. 

The great objection of our Catholic brethren to the 
Arkansas Plan and Memorial is known as the "Over- 
lapping Objection." 

I 

i. In answer to this objection let me say first of 
all that Episcopal Jurisdictions covering the same 
geographical area are by no means as uncommon or as 
unjustifiable as our Catholic idealists would have us 
believe. Such overlappings are now very common in 
heathen Asiatic and African Mission Fields. This is 
also the case even in Christian Europe. According 
to our theory all the Roman Bishoprics in this country 
are overlappings. The Anglican communion is respon- 
sible for several among such overlappings in Roman 
Catholic countries. What are our American Churches 
in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, but so 
many geographical overlappings? We are also respon- 
sible, I think justly so, for something that looks very 
much like geographical overlapping in Mexico, Cuba, 
Hayti, Porto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, Brazil, 
Honolulu and the Philippine Islands. If we feel free 
to overlap so much upon the ground of other Catholic 



200 The Crucial Race Question 

Churches in more or less far away countries why may 
we not without the violation of Catholic principle do a 
little of it on our ground at home? In view of this 
showing, refusal to grant the appeal of Afro-American 
Churchmen would open the door to the serious charges 
of inconsistency and insincerity and if they are entered 
I should like to be present when the chosen Champion 
of the Catholics tries to put them out. 

2. The creation of a racial branch of the Catholic 
Episcopate for the purpose of meeting the perplex- 
ing exigency which now confronts Anglo-American 
Churchmen in the Appeal of their Afro-American 
Brethren would certainly receive considerable, if not 
indeed, complete justification in the action taken by 
the Apostles under much less serious but essentially 
analogous circumstances. In response to an appeal, 
which, like this one, was the outgrowth of irritating 
conditions resulting from the incompatibilities of a 
differentiated Church membership, the Apostles went 
to the extreme length of appointing a wholly new 
order in the Christian Ministry, the seven original 
members of which, in their ministrations, were to have 
reference to the limitations of differentiated peoples 
who though they, at least for the time being, occupied 
the same geographical area could not or, what is much 
the same thing, would not get along together under 
the ministrations of the same spiritual Pastors. 

All the Pentecostal converts to Christianity were 
Caucasians and moreover they were either Jews or 
Proselytes to Judaism. Above all the Christian 
religion with its attractive doctrines of the universal 
Fatherhood of God, and Brotherhood of Man, was a 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 201 

new thing with them and relying upon the profound 
philosophy which underlies the homely proverb, "a 
new broom sweeps clean," the Apostles might reason- 
ably have expected that the Disciples would sink their 
comparatively slight differences sufficiently to enable 
all parties to be satisfied with the same Christian 
Ministry. To my mind there is no doubt that there 
were idealists among the Apostles, and that they made 
every effort to prevent the necessity of the creation 
of factional ministries ; but fortunately for the welfare 
of the Infant Church, they were more sensible than 
some modern idealists, and so, when they found that 
their idealism "wouldn't work" they created a new 
Ministry, seven Deacons, two or three for each faction. 

Now if the Catholic Apostles thought it necessary, 
or at least desirable, to add a new order to the Chris- 
tian Ministry in response to the appeal of the differen- 
tiated Jewish converts to Christianity, which appeal 
grew out of a comparatively mild form of human anti- 
pathy, why may not the Catholic Bishops of the Amer- 
ican Church regard the appeal of our Afro-American 
Churchmen by granting them a complete Apostolic 
Ministry. Almost every principle involved in the 
making and granting of this appeal is or could be 
justified by the analogy of what was done in the 
Apostolic Church, and that too while it was yet being 
baptized by the Holy Ghost. Certainly there is very 
much more cause for the complaint of Afro-American 
Churchmen than there was for that of the Grecian 
Jews, and the completion of the racial ministry which 
they already have by the addition of racial Bishops 
would not be as radical a measure as the creation of a 



202 The Crucial Race Question 

new order of the ministry to meet a much less virulent 
case of differentiation among Christians. 

If I am reminded that the Apostles did not give 
their memorialists a special Apostolate, I insist that 
what they did covered the principle that would be 
involved in the making of a favorable response to our 
memoralists, for they did create a Special Ministry 
to meet a Special Case, and that is all that we would 
be doing. In the ordination of Negro Deacons and 
Priests we in fact have done this already. It is true 
that Deacons and Priests are not equal to Bishops in 
dignity and authority of office but they are Ministers 
and they have authority and the point of issue is 
the overlapping geographically of Ministerial authority 
and work. 

But to avoid the possibility of it being urged, 
with any show of reason, that we have begged the 
question, I will admit that the contention based 
upon the comparative inferiority of the Ministry 
created by the Apostles and of that asked for 
by Afro-American Churchmen should be taken 
into consideration. This is a generous concession, 
but there is a remarkable fact which invalidates 
any objection to our argument that Catholics can 
base upon it, and this is that fact: the Deacons 
created by the Apostles in response to the petition for 
a special Ministry were no ordinary Deacons such as 
present themselves to our minds when we think of the 
Diaconate. In reality that Diaconate was unique in 
that it occupied very much the same footing as that of 
the Apostolate. The truth is those Deacons for a 
long time put the Apostles in the shade. During a 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 203 

considerable period they were much more aggressive 
and prominent and this accounts for the fact that their 
order of the Ministry secured the imperishable honor 
of having furnished the first Christian Martyr. 

3. In the Ministry of St. Paul and St. Peter we have 
something that looks perhaps even more like Apostolic 
and Scriptural authority for such overlappings in Epis- 
copal Jurisdictions as are necessary for the meeting of 
special racial conditions. This case is stated so briefly 
and forcibly by the Bishop of Western Texas that I 
give it in his words. Speaking in justification of the 
proposal to create an Afro-American Episcopate he 
says : 

"I think but one argument has been advanced in 
opposition to the adoption of this proposed plan ; that 
is, that it would be in violation of Catholic usage. But 
is it not in agreement with the most primitive practice? 
And surely that which is most primitive, according to 
the Vincentian rule, is most Catholic. When this 
same question of race prejudice sprang up in the early 
Church, how did the Apostles, under the direct guid- 
ance of the Holy Spirit, settle it? We all know the 
answer, for it is written plain in the records, where St. 
Paul, in a letter to the Gentiles in Galatia, in which 
St. Peter was Apostle to the Jews, recounting what 
was done at the first Council, says: 'When they saw 
that I had been entrusted with the gospel of the uncir- 
cumcision even as Peter with the gospel of the cir- 
cumcision (for He that wrought for Peter unto the 
Apostleship of the circumcision wrought for me also 
unto the Gentiles) they gave to me and Barnabas the 
right hand of fellowship.' Now the result of this 



204 The Crucial Eace Question 

decision was unquestionably to create overlapping 
jurisdiction in Asia Minor, and possibly in Rome, as is 
proven by Peter and Paul each writing Epistles to the 
Christians in Galatia. We know very well what a 
rumpus this would raise if any such thing should be 
done now, that is, if one Diocesan Bishop should pre- 
sume to address a pastoral epistle to any Christians 
dwelling in the Diocese of another Bishop. I know 
whereof I speak, for on one occasion, when I sug- 
gested by letter to a Bishop what I thought was an 
excellent plan for dealing with this very question at 
my old home, where the Negroes outnumber the 
whites ten to one, and where numbers of them in their 
childhood had received Baptism and were confirmed in 
this Church, I got a rebuke which I will not soon 
forget. The fact has to be confessed that Diocesan 
Episcopacy, as we have it, was not known in the 
earliest days of the Church. If we would frankly 
admit this, and not blindly stick to our indefensible 
position, we might reach a reasonable basis for Chris- 
tian unity. Claiming, as we do, to stand for the most 
primitive usages, should we hesitate to adopt the 
same measures that the Apostles did to tide over a 
difficult problem, trusting to time to furnish a more 
complete and satisfactory solution than is now 
possible?" 

II. 

There is no doubt among ecclesiastical histo- 
rians that, in the age succeeding the sub-Apostolic 
times, it became the general rule of the Church to per- 
mit only one Bishop in a See City or Diocese, and that 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 205 

this prevailing regulation was for the purpose of pre- 
venting the overlapping of Episcopal Jurisdictions ; but 
the authorities also quite generally agree that there 
were exceptions to this rule which were allowed in 
order to meet temporary exigencies. 

Perhaps in the rapid rise of the Diaconate, 
to overshadowing importance, we have the explan- 
ation of the fact that the successors of the Apos- 
tles did not ordain Deacons or Priests to meet 
the emergency cases with which they had to deal, but 
consecrated Country Bishops instead. This, I have 
no doubt is how it came about that in the course of 
time the Bishop of every great center of population 
surrounded himself with a staff of Assistant Bishops. 
These auxiliary Country Bishops, as they were called, 
occupied much the same relation to the City Bishops 
that the first Deacons or Priests did to the Apostles. 
They had the oversight of related groups of differen- 
tiated congregations. If this primitive arrangement 
were to be restored to New York, as to some degree 
it should be, the Bishop of that Metropolis would not 
have one Coadjutor to assist him in his stupendous 
work but perhaps a dozen Auxiliary Bishops, say, one 
for the Negroes, another for the Italians, another for 
the Greeks, another for the Jews, another for the 
Russians, one or two for the Tenement Districts, 
two or three for the Suburbs, and several for the 
smaller cities, towns and villages round about. 

In some of the greater cities there seems to have 
been two principal Bishops, one Bishop for the Jews 
and the other for the Gentiles. This is the conclusion 



206 The Crucial Eace Question 

reached by some among the most learned of our histo- 
rians. They contend that unless the Apostles and 
their immediate successors were responsible for the 
overlapping of Episcopal jurisdictions it is difficult, if 
not indeed impossible, to explain satisfactorily the per- 
sistent tradition that the Church of Rome had both 
St. Peter and St. Paul as founders of it, or the testi- 
mony to the effect that they left successors behind 
them, and that Alexandria never had two Bishops as 
had most other metropolitan Churches. 

It is true that these representations rest in part 
upon the authority of Epiphanius and that the learned 
editor of the Churchman in his criticism of the argu- 
ments by which the Arkansas Plan is supported is 
inclined to take what this Father says with a grain of 
salt ; but he has neglected to explain how it was possi- 
ble for Epiphanius to make the mistake that is attrib- 
uted to him!. Until this explanation is forthcoming 
we submit that on behalf of a favorable reply to the 
Appeal of Afro-American Churchmen, we have scored 
a great point against the Catholics which in itself is 
almost if not quite conclusive. 

Among the authorities who are inclined to the 
opinion that the earliest Episcopate of the great cities 
was dual, are both Bingham and Milman. Indeed 
Dean Milman commits himself to the hypothesis that 
in some places there were Jewish and Gentile Bishops 
with overlapping geographical jurisdictions. He 
thinks that in this assumption of duality we have the 
only rational solution of the perplexing historical 
problem connected with the association of Linus and 
Clement as contemporary Bishops of the City of Rome. 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 207 

One was probably the successor of St. Peter who had 
jurisdiction over the Jews. As the Dean in his History 
of Christianity observes, "All difficulties in the arrange- 
ment of the succession to the Episcopal See of Rome 
vanish if we suppose two contemporary lines," and, he 
might have gone on to observe that, if this is not the 
solution of the historical problem), its difficulties are 
inexplicable. 

It seems almost impossible to avoid the conclu- 
sion that there was a great deal of overlapping in the 
case of the Apostles. No doubt St. James was the 
Bishop of Jerusalem ; but, for some years, all the 
Apostles made that metropolis of Christianity their 
headquarters and it is unreasonable to suppose that 
they did not feel free to exercise their ministry as they 
had opportunity without much if any reference to him. 
Jerusalem was the See City of the Twelve Apostles 
long before there were any Dioceses or geographical 
jurisdictions. 

Moreover when Samaria, as the result of St. Philip's 
preaching, received the Gospel, the Apostles, not 
St. James, sent two of their number, St. Peter and St. 
John, to that city for the purpose of confirming the 
converts. Will our Catholic brethren who contend 
that a modern Diocese can only have one successor of 
an Apostle note that, as a result of a conference of 
the Apostolic College, two Apostles were sent with 
joint or overlapping jurisdictions to Samaria? 

It certainly is a great misfortune for Catholic 
Idealism in the Anglican and Roman Churches that 
one Apostle did not do the sending to Samaria and 



208 The Crucial Eace Question 

that two were sent. Why did they not do things differ- 
ently? Upon the supposition that St. James had 
exclusive jurisdiction in Jerusalem we must suppose 
that the other Apostles were his Coadjutors and conse- 
quently that when there was any sending to be done he 
was the one to do it, but St. Peter and St. John were 
sent by the Apostles. And upon the hypothesis that 
there can be no overlapping of Episcopal jurisdiction 
the sending of two Apostles to Samaria to confirm the 
converts of the one Deacon that had been sent or 
driven there is inexplicable. It is true that there were 
many converts, but it is also true that in a few days 
of leisurely ministrations one Bishop could have con- 
firmed the whole population, and administered the 
Holy Communion to it. 

St. Peter and St. John were sent to Samaria, or 
elected to go there, by the Apostles, and, in all proba- 
bility, they organized and jointly governed a Church 
in that section of the Holy Land. However, two 
Apostles could not go to a place to perform joint Epis- 
copal functions without more or less of overlapping. 
The relationship to and the authority over his breth- 
ren maintained by St. James were doubtless similar to 
those of an Archbishop, not of a Diocesan. It is diffi- 
cult, if not indeed impossible, to imagine that the other 
Apostles regarded Jerusalem, or any part of the Holy 
Land, or even of the world as given over exclusively to 
the jurisdiction of St. James or to any one else so that 
if one of them wanted to preach or baptize, confirm, or 
administer the Holy Communion he must first secure 
his permission. Think, if you can, of St. Peter or any 
other of the Eleven feeling any restraint as to the 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 209 

exercise of their ministry on account of the overlord- 
ship of St. James. 

It is indeed true that after the development 
of the Diocesan system in the Fourth and Fifth 
Centuries the Church tried to prevent the set- 
ting up of rival Bishops; but let me remind you 
that in order to heal schism, Bishops with overlapping 
jurisdictions often entered into communion with each 
other. At the Council of Carthage in A. D. 411 there 
were present 286 Catholic and 279 Donatist Bishops. 
Before entering upon the proceedings, the Catholics 
pledged themselves, if defeated to give up their sees, 
while in the other event they promised to recognize 
the Donatist, as Bishops on their simply declaring 
their adherence to the Catholic Church. Imagine the 
New York Churchman making a similar proposition 
to American Denominationalism ! But some among us 
think something of the kind should be done by either 
the Churchman or the Living Church, or better yet, 
the General Convention. 

Ill 

But it will be said: What you need by way of a 
precedent for the support of your contention is an 
instance of two or more Bishops legitimately exercis- 
ing different spiritual jurisdictions within the same 
geographical area. Are there any such overlappings 
in the history of the Church which would serve as a 
justification of the Anglo-American Church in creating 
an independent Afro-American Church? I believe 
that there are. In fact it seetns to me that all the 



210 The Crucial Eace Question 

instances of the missions of the Church of one country 
to unevangelized people of another country in which 
Christianity was established will serve our purpose 
and there are many such. We Anglo-Catholic Chris- 
tians need not look outside of our own history for a 
notable example. The British Church and the Roman 
Mission to the Saxons is such. The animosity between 
the native Christians and their heathen conquerors in 
this and other similar cases was so bitter that the 
former could not if they would and would not if they 
could preach the Gospel to the latter. If the invaders, 
and the whole of the christianized part of Western 
Europe which was over-run by them, were evangelized 
at all it therefore would have to be done through the 
preaching of outside missionaries and fortunately this 
was done systematically, everywhere. 

It is indeed true that, in the case of our illustrative 
example, the British Bishops and Augustine did not 
get on very well together, but their difficulty was not 
because of a claim on the part of the British Bishops 
that their jurisdiction extended over the invaders; it 
was due to essentially the same causes that prevent 
harmonious relationships in the case of a New England 
"School Marm" who comes South for the purpose of 
teaching the Negroes the classic languages, higher 
mathematics, and incidentally, social equality. Augus- 
tine acted in obedience to Christ's command, and in 
accordance with the Catholic custom, so that though 
his coming and works were not approved by the 
British Bishop, they nevertheless no doubt met the 
approval of the hierarchy of heaven and we have no 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 211 

record of any objection to what he did by the Church 
at large. 

As the learned ex-President of Trinity College, Dr. 
George Williamson Smith, so well says: "From Ire- 
land and Scotland Missionaries went into France, 
Holland, and the Rhine Country to convert the 
heathen tribes which had come into Christendom 
where Bishops were neglecting the work of convert- 
ing theml. Sometimes a Bishop headed from the first 
the body of voluntary adventurers, but more often, as 
soon as any considerable success had been achieved 
one of the energetic pioneers was advanced to the 
Episcopal rank. Many among such Missions began 
with monasteries in which were men of the Episcopal 
order. They forced the careless, Frankish Churchmen 
for very shame to rouse themselves to the duties of 
Missionary work' among new races. The work of 
Wilfrith, Willibrord, the Hewalds and Boniface was in 
its main features like that of the proposed Episcopate 
to the Negroes, overlapping Episcopates evangelizing 
and shepherding two races of people living in the 
same country." 

The greater part of the Missionary history of Chris- 
tianity in Western Europe during the Middle Ages may 
be cited in justification of the Arkansas Plan and in 
support of our Memorial to the General Convention. 
If the Catholic Church of the middle ages had held to 
and been governed by the opinion that the limits of a 
Bishop's jurisdiction are geographical rather than 
spiritual Europe would be a heathen country to-day. 

In New York City the Orthodox Greek Church 
now has two Bishops, one ministering to the Syrians 



212 The Ceucial Race Question 

and the other to the Russians. Some of our Churches 
there give the hospitality of their buildings to these 
racial congregations. 

There is a curious recognition of the principle for 
which we are contending by the police adminstra- 
tion of that metropolis. It seems that experience has 
taught the necessity of racial officers to look after cer- 
tain classes of criminals. Now, if racial police are 
required in New York City to compel some people 
to be good how much more are racial Ministers neces- 
sary to persuade the same people to be good. 

The Ruthenians are a Slavonic people, Poles, who 
adhere to the Greek type of Catholic Christianity, but 
acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope. In a sense 
they are a Church within a Church, and all over the 
world wherever they have congregations they owe and 
acknowledge ecclesiastical allegiance, not to the 
Bishop of the Diocese in which they may be, but to 
their Metropolitan, the Lord Archbishop of the Prov- 
ince of Limburg, Austria. They have Parishes in 
several American Dioceses ; one of them in Chicago is 
said to number 40,000 souls and to be the largest 
Parish in the World. There is a congregation of them 
at Shamokin, Pennsylvania, that has built a line 
Church which was consecrated not by the Bishop of 
the Diocese but by their own Metropolitan, Arch- 
bishop Webber. 

The principle that I am contending for in this book 
is clearly involved and conceded in this interesting 
instance of the overlapping of Episcopal Jurisdictions 
on the part of the representatives of the two great 
branches of the Catholic Church. Rome has been trying 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 213 

to care for the American Polish constituency by her 
Diocesan Bishops with about the same results that 
have attended our efforts to minister to Afro-American 
Churchmen through a white Episcopate. Her Poles, 
like our Negroes, naturally enough, have been appeal- 
ing for Bishops of their own. The persistent appeal 
of the Poles to the Vatican has been heard. Shall the 
General Convention be deaf to the importunity of the 
Negro? If so, has not the time come for us to abandon 
our representation that the Church of Rome is a 
Mediaeval, unprogressive, inflexible institution, while 
ours is a living Church capable of meeting the special 
needs of all nations and races as they arise in the 
course of the ages? 

The system of auxiliary, coadjutor, or assistant 
Bishops which has obtained in varying degrees in all 
ages throughout the Church is against the contention 
that overlappings in Episcopal jurisdictions are upon 
Catholic principles inadmissible. So also is the Arch- 
Episcopal System which arose so early and has pre- 
vailed so universally. 

Besides there are now, and from the most ancient 
times there were from one to five Bishops in 
the Oriental cities, ministering to as many races 
or sects, no one of which can make good a claim 
to exclusive jurisdiction. And, for that matter, 
throughout Western Christendom there are but few if 
any great cities in which there are not two or more 
Bishops with overlapping Episcopal jurisdictions. 
Such overlappings are almost universal throughout both 
the English Empire and the United States. 



214 The Crucial Race Question 

Indeed the Catholic Episcopate has in all places and 
in every age manifested an universal and irresistible 
tendency to overlap. It would seem therefore that there 
must be something wrong about the claim that, upon 
Catholic principles, there properly can be only one 
Bishop in a city ; there is, in short, no escape from the 
conclusion that it is based upon an idealistic fiction. 
It cannot endure the light of the historical facts and of 
the realistic conditions which confront it. Both the 
English and American branches of the Anglican Com- 
munion are responsible for overlappings in the 
jurisdictions of Catholic Bishops which would be 
wholly unjustifiable or at least highly embarrassing, 
if the objections urged against the duplication of our 
Episcopate in order to render it possible to embrace 
within its jurisdiction all the people as well as all the 
territory of this country will stand. 



IV 



I once heard a converted Jew say that in his judg- 
ment the great difficulty about the propagation of the 
Gospel among his people arose from the fact that when 
one of them became a Christian is was generally sup- 
posed that he ceased to be an Israelite. "Both Christ- 
tians and Jews" he said, "seem tenaciously to hold to 
this view and it is a great misfortune that such is the 
case. No one thinks or speaks of a Gentile when he 
becomes a Christian as ceasing to be a Gentile. Well, 
then," he continued, "if we have Gentile Christians, 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 215 

do let us also have Jewish Christians, Japanese Chris- 
tians, Chinese Christians, Indian Christians, and 
Negro Christians." 

It had not, apparently, occurred to the speaker, but, 
while I was listening to him, it did occur to me, that 
the egregious failure of our mission to the Jews is due 
largely to the same cause as the notorious failure of 
our Mission to the Negroes, that is, the lack of wis- 
dom in not creating a special Episcopate. I verily 
believe, and I am by no means alone in the belief, that 
our missions to the Japanese and Chinese ultimately 
will fail if we withhold from them native Episcopates. 

An attentive and reflective study of the history 
of Catholic Christianity will convince anyone, I think, 
that there is deep philosophy in a statement which 
among the primitive Christians was regarded as axi- 
omatic, "No Bishop, no Church." I contend that 
races having no Episcopates of their own, really are 
without Bishops, for, in the very nature of things, a 
representative of one race cannot really be the 
religious pastor to the representatives of another race. 
There is something inherent in the differentiating 
features of human nature which prevents the possi- 
bility of such a thing. 

In view of this fundamental fact and in the light of 
history, I maintain that the primitive, Catholic axiom, 
"No Bishop, no Church," may quite legitimately be 
paraphased thus: Unless we create permanent racial 
Bishops and temporary sectarian Bishops the Amer- 
ican Branch of the Anglican Communion has no really 
great Catholic, permanent mission to the people of 
these United States. 



216 The Crucial Eace Question 

The conviction is growing upon me that the great 
blunder of the whole Anglican Communion since the 
Reformation has been its failure to recognize the 
fundamental truth of Catholic Christianity, "No 
Bishop, no Church," and to magnify the Episcopate 
in the right way, that is, by its multiplication and 
duplication. We indeed quite generally have exalted 
the Episcopate as a regal, lordly institution, but, we 
should have done so by such an increase of it as would 
extend its ministrations to all races and orthodox 
branches of Christians. 

We have improved somewhat upon the idea of our 
fathers for they intended that Dioceses in the United 
States should be conterminous with the States. For- 
tunately we now have two Sees in many states and 
more in several of them. But Bishop Coxe's famous 
recommendation that there should be a Bishop in 
almost every city of twenty-five or fifty thousand 
inhabitants is, I have long thought, worthy of much 
more consideration than it so far has received. We 
have cramped our Episcopate by confining it to a small 
college. Thus, to use a classic, commercial term, we 
have "cornered" it, and given the world to understand 
that those who want its benefits must become mem- 
bers of our little "syndicate," the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America. 

I would not, of course, advise a disregard of the 
precept about the care of pearls, but I think we 
have been altogether too careful of our Episcopal pearl 
and that our General Convention could not do better 
than to make the forthcoming Three Hundredth Anni- 
versary of the Anglo-Saxon colonization and Chris- 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 217 

tianization of this country the occasion of an official 
proclamation to the effect that we stand ready to share 
our Episcopate with all the distinct races and with all 
the sects of orthodox Christians in this country. 

While we are remembering the precept concerning 
the care of pearls, do let us not forget altogether the 
proverb about that form of withholding which "tend- 
eth unto poverty," the truth of which is so strikingly 
illustrated by the results of our lamentable parsimony 
in the matter of creating a t imply and adequate Epis- 
copate. So far as the giving of the Episcopate is 
concerned, let the motto of the next General Conven- 
tion be "Cast thy bread upon the waters" for "after 
many days it will return to thee again." 

As Bishop Johnston of Texas well says : "There are 
many things we might learn from our Methodist off- 
spring. By their sagacity and gumption, which 
Bishop Wilmer called consecrated common sense, they 
have well nigh captured America, which by right 
ought to have belonged to the Mother Church, because 
of the undisputed prominence she possessed in many 
of the colonies and which we might have maintained 
but for our lack of adapting ourselves to conditions 
and wasting our time in discussing theories. The 
Methodists are now dealing successfully with both the 
German and Mexican problem in Texas in the same 
way it is proposed to to deal with the Negro problem 
in all the Southern States. They have separate Dis- 
trict Conferences for each of these races, which legis- 
late freely for their own peculiar work under the 
sympathetic interest and practical financial assistance 
of their English-speaking American co-religionists, in 



218 The Crucial Eace Question 

the midst of whom they dwell. Of course, in a genera- 
tion or two, when they all have become English- 
speaking Americans, the present organizations will 
lapse, having served the purpose for which they were 
created." 

The ringing words of Bishop Mann find an echo 
in my mind and I must reverberate them : "I was 
glad when the Bishop of Minnesota invited an evangel- 
ist to preach in this church some months ago. I was 
glad again when the Bishop of Albany invited a dis- 
tinguished minister of the Presbyterian Church of 
Scotland to preach in All Saints' Cathedral." No doubt 
if the Bishop of North Dakota had happened to know 
about it, he would have gone on to say, "I was glad 
when Bishop Brent of the Philippines opened his 
Cathedral to Doctor Cutherbert Hall for his lectures 
on the Religions of the East, and I was glad when 
Bishop Funsten, of the Missionary District of Boise, 
invited the Reverend Doctor Paddock, a local Congre- 
gational Minister, to be the orator on the occasion of 
the laying of the corner stone of the Bishop Tuttle 
Church House in his See City." 

Such acts and such talk about them will do the 
Church good. I for one pray God that we may have very 
much more of both of them. We should give the 
Negroes a Racial Episcopate and Church in com- 
munion with our Racial Episcopate and Church, we 
should create a Suffragan Episcopate for the care of 
the differentiated peoples of the Caucasian Race 
which are gathered in our great cities and Northern 
states, we should open our General Convention to our 
Reformed Episcopalian Brethren ; we should offer, 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 219 

upon reasonable termte, our Anglo-Catholic Episcopate 
to our Anglo-American Brethren of the various 
denominations of orthodox Christians who have gone 
out from us, and we should remove that "stumbling 
block" to Church reunion, the closed pulpit. What if 
all these necessary things should be done at the Rich- 
mond General Convention? It would be the dawning 
of the day of Catholicity for the Church and Christian 
Unity for the Nation of which our young men have 
dreamed dreams and our old men have seen visions ! 

And indeed if we were to give the Episcopate to the 
Great Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Baptist 
bodies, it would at once establish a communion 
between us and them resembling that which now 
exists between the various branches of the Anglo- 
Catholic Communion, and such an Anglo-American 
Commiunion would be an inestimable gain to Chris- 
tianity in the United States. And I venture to say it 
would not be many generations until we should have 
as the result of such a statesmanlike announcement 
some kind of an organic unity which would give this 
country a more representative and real national 
Church than it now possesses, or ever can possess, in 
our historic but small branch of the Catholic Church 
of the Anglo Saxon race. 



The world is to be saved by giving, not by keeping. 
This Church has not been giving as much through its 
Episcopate as it should have given towards the salva- 
tion of the people of these United States. Let us reform 



220 The Crucial Eace Question 

by making the Three Hundredth Anniversary meeting 
of the General Convention an epoch in the history of 
American Christianity by adequately giving our Apos- 
tolic, Catholic Episcopate to the Negroes who so 
urgently are asking for it, and by offering it to the 
several orthodox bodies, among others the Congrega- 
tionalists Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Bap- 
tists, Christians and in short to all who accept the 
Lord Jesus as the Divine Savior of the world. The 
offer may create the desire. In any case no harm can 
result from the doing of a great duty. 

It will be objected to the recommendation of 
this Essay that the Anglo-Catholic Episcopate is to us 
a sacred trust and that consequently it cannot be dealt 
with in accordance with my suggestion without 
unfaithfulness in our stewardship. 

I admit that the Episcopate is a trust, but contend 
that it is only so in the sense that the Gospel is such. 
Now as we are made partakers of the Gospel not only 
that we ourselves may be saved through it, but also 
that we may offer it to others for their salvation, and 
as, according to Catholic Doctrine, the Gospel and the 
Apostolic Ministry are almost, if not quite, inseparably 
connected, it follows that we are under about as great 
obligation to offer our Episcopate to others as our 
Gospel. We are commanded to go into all the world 
with the Gospel and, if our doctrine concerning the 
Episcopate be correct, we discharge scarcely more 
than half of the Missionary duty imposed by this 
command when we offer our version of the Gospel 
without our line of the Episcopate. 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 221 

Let us then give our Jewish and Colored Brethren 
Bishops of their own; and by all means, let us pro- 
claim that under some proper but liberal, concordat, 
we stand ready to consecrate three autonomous 
Bishops for any and every orthodox Christian body, 
leaving them free to multiply themselves as rapidly as 
they may desire. 

And last but not least let us create a Pan-American 
Conference of Apostolic Bishops to which we shall 
invite the Bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church 
and of the old Catholic Church and of the Polish 
Church, and of the great Greek and Roman Churches 
who shall be entitled to seats on entirely equal terms. 

By pursuing such a course the next General Conven- 
tion would create an epoch in the religious history of 
the United States, and, indeed, of the whole of Chris- 
tendom and it would be following the precedent estab- 
lished by the Apostolic and Primitive Church. For 
there can be no doubt that the ancients recognized the 
necessity of racial Episcopates and created them and 
that their plan for the healing of schisms was recogni- 
tion and even the creation of overlapping Episcopates. 

But to return to the Appeal of our Afro-American 
Brethren for Missionary Jurisdictions and Bishops of 
their own, I desire to give expression to the belief that 
logically the possibility, if not even duty, of making a 
favorable reply was conceded in the ordination of their 
first representative to our Ministry. If I were a 
logician, I think that I could make it appear that, unless 
we have the right to create an autonomous Afro- 
American Episcopate and Church, the admittance of 
colored men to Holy Orders cannot be justified. For 



222 The Crucial Eace Question 

when a candidate is made a Deacon we pray that he 
may be found worthy of advancement to the higher 
©rders of the Ministry. Is that prayer meaningless in 
the case of a Colored man? The words of the Prayer 
Book would seem to potentially open the door to both 
the Priesthood and the Episcopate for every Deacon. 

The original Episcopate was Jewish. If the various 
branches of the Gentile race have a right to an auton- 
omous Episcopate and Church, why has not the Amer- 
ican branch of the African race the same right? 

If the Jewish Episcopate had the right to give an 
autonomous Episcopate and Church to the Gentiles, 
why has not the Anglo-American Episcopate a right 
to confer them upon Afro-Americans? 

Finally, if the Jewish and Gentile, Greek and Roman, 
the European and Asiatic Churches always have over- 
lapped, and in all probability always will overlap, why 
may not the Anglo-American and Afro-American 
Churches overlap in the United States? 

I feel confident that the objectors to autonomy can- 
not give a satisfactory answer to these questions. 



VI 



The letter to the Bishop of Washington from the 
ex-President of Trinity College, Dr. George William- 
son Smith whicrj forms an interesting and valuable 
part of the Appendices of this book and the following 
letter from the learned Bishop Whittingham to Bishop 
Howe show that I am by no means the only person 
who believes that the Jurisdiction of Bishops is Spir- 
itual rather than geographical. Bishop Whittingham's 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 223 

letter is found in his biography by William Francis 
Brand and is as follows : 

"Baltimore, May 30, 1873. 
"To the Rt. Rev. W. B. W. Howe, D. D., Bishop of 

South Carolina. 
"My Dear Bishop: 

"The plan of an Episcopate for our Colored popula- 
tion is by no means new to me. Long before the Civil 
War I had been driven to meditate on it, by conviction 
that the Blacks in my own Diocese could not be effi- 
ciently provided for by our present scheme, and that 
there did seem to be ground for anticipating good suc- 
cess for work among them well organized and dili- 
gently prosecuted on the plan of a 'race' or 'tongue' 
episcopate, jurisdiction, ministry, and pastoral supply. 

"The double, mutually compensatory and comple- 
tory, kinds of jurisdiction, topical and lingual ; or dis- 
tributed by metes and bounds, for a certain portion of 
the population, and by race or language (distributed 
over or scattered through the same metes and bounds, 
with or without recognition of them) to a certain other 
portion (or several other portions) of a colimited popu- 
lation, I believe to have been existent, and more or less 
extensively employed as called for, throughout the 
church in all ages. 

"I see no reason why the Church should not resort 
to its use in our Country, so wonderfully peopled and 
still peopling by myriads of incomers from many and 
very diverse races and tongues. 

"On that plan we might have an episcopate for the 
Scandanavian tongues, another for the German, 
another for the Chinese, and above all for the millions 
of our native blacks. 



224 The Crucial Race Question 

"Of course, in the outset, each of these must, of 
necessity, have a Missionary Character; and with the 
exception of the last — and possibly also of the third — 
be constituted with distinct recognition of a steady 
process of evanishment, in proportion as the several 
races or tongues should become merged in the general 
mass of the community. 

"But to institute such a work, I suppose we should 
have to add new Canonical provisions — just as was 
proposed (and, I think, by mistake, not done) in the 
last General Convention, for our foreign congregations 
in Europe and elsewhere. A canon in a few sections, 
might provide when and where such work should be 
done — by whom election, etc., should be effected — and 
what the relations of the new organizations should be 
with existing diocesan and missionary schemes. 

"I, for one, am ready to enter upon endeavors to 
devise and execute such a plan of Church extension 
(to which Providence seems to be calling us in more 
than one direction) whenever my brethren shall have 
faith and zeal to set about it. Our new Indian episco- 
pate is a long and noble step toward the enterprise. 

"Heartily thanking you for the opportunity of 
exchanging opinions upon the subject, and wishing that 
you and our brethren of the adjoining dioceses would 
bestow the study and labor which the due preparation 
of a well-devised scheme would doubtless require, but 
would certainly thoroughly deserve, 

"I am faithfully and truly your loving friend and 
brother, 

"W. R. W. 
"Bishop of Maryland." 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 225 

President Smith to whom I am indebted for calling 
my attention to this letter and for many valuable 
criticisms and suggestions points out "that Bishop 
Whittingham's idea evidently was that the Episcopate 
to the Negroes (and perhaps Chinese) should be 
permanent" and then goes on to make the important 
observation which strongly supports so much of our 
contention in this essay : 

"Afro-Aujericans are entitled to the Gospel in the 
circumstances and conditions in which Providence has 
placed them. They cannot change the facts. It is not 
their doing that they are black. Shall they be deprived 
of the fullness of the Church's Ministry because of it? 
I do not think it would be schismatic to give them an 
Autonomous Episcopate. But will it not be a serious 
thing to offer them less than we have received, less 
than we offer to Africa or China? The real difficulty 
is in assuming that Episcopal authority is geographical 
instead of spiritual. The geography is not necessary 
to the authority. It is merely a means of defining 
what souls are under a particular jurisdiction. But if 
the white were in one part of a Diocese and the black 
in another we could have a black and a white Bishop 
and no one would say, 'Schism.' " 

The whole conception upon which the "Catholic" 
objection to the proposed Afro-American Episcopate 
is built is utterly irreconcilable with what we see in 
the acts of the Apostles and the history of sub-Apos- 
tolic times of the workings of the Episcopate. The 
Diocesan system to which that conception belongs 
was not in existence for the first three hundred years 
and it was a long time after that before it reduced the 



226 The Crucial Race Question 

Episcopate to its present comparatively insignificant 
number, one for a large city and in many cases thous- 
ands of square miles round about. In my Diocese 
there are fifty-three thousand square miles with 
1,500,000 souls and with three widely differentiated 
people, (1) the ordinary white population about 450,- 
000, (2) the mountain population about 450,000, and 
(3) the Black Belt population about 450,000. 

How perfectly absurd is the idealism which would 
restrict the number of Bishops for such a territory to 
one. Fortunately there are two, the Bishop of the 
Roman Catholics and the Bishop of the Anglo-Cath- 
olics. If I had my way there would also be a Bishop 
for the Methodist Catholics, a Bishop for the Presby- 
terian Catholics, a Bishop for Baptist Catholics, and 
in short a Bishop for each one of the other Catholic 
denominations whose membership accept the ecumen- 
ical creed and are baptized in the name of the Divine 
Trinity : Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Even our own 
Anglo-American "Catholics," who are the most ultra 
Catholics in the world, admit that Methodists, Pres- 
byterians, Baptists and "such like" are members of the 
Catholic Church of Christ. Then they magnify the 
indispensableness of confirmation and especially of the 
Lord's Supper to the Spiritual life and the invalidity 
of the Sacrament unless administered by Bishops and 
Priests in the Apostolic succession ! 

There is something radically wrong with this Anglo 
and Roman Catholic idealism which gives the Catholic 
population of Arkansas only two Bishops. A dozen 
would be none too many. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Idealist's Objection to the Arkansas Plan. 

In answering what is popularly known as the over- 
lapping objection to the drawing of the ecclesiastical 
Color-Line according to the Arkansas Plan I shall begin 
with the important observation that a Parish or a Dio- 
cese which is without representation in a lawmaking 
ecclesiastical body is not necessarily severed from the 
Catholic Church. If its Worship, Doctrine, Discipline 
and Orders are approved by any branch of the Catholic 
Church there is the "communion of Saints," and such 
communion is a true and sufficient bond of Catholic 
unity, the only bond, in fact, that the ecumenical creed 
requires, or that, in the nature of things, can exist be- 
tween many Churches even though they may be com- 
posed of people of the same race and lineage. 

The right of representation in General Councils 
would appear to be the only official relationship to any 
organization that can affect the catholicity of the 
Church of a State, Nation, Tribe or Race. Now the 
proposed Afro-American Church would be in com- 
munion with the Anglo-American Church, and no 
doubt also with the English Church and its Colonial 
Churches. Her Bishops would be invited to the All- 
American and Pan-Anglican Conferences and an 



228 The Crucial Kace Question 

annual Conference between them and an equal 
number of our Bishops might, and probably would, be 
arranged. 

Representation in our legislative assemblies, Gen- 
eral or Diocesan, is not at all essential to Catholic 
unity. If the Negroes were set apart into a separate 
general organization, the standards of the Church 
would be binding upon them, and there would be 
unity in the best, or at least the only necessary and 
possible sense of the word, that is, sympathetic and 
co-operative communion. There would be no schism, 
but merely the division of authority and spheres of 
influence so far as races are concerned. 

If Canada were to become a possession of the United 
States through conquest, and the Anglo-Canadian 
Church declined to become a part of the Anglo-Amer- 
ican Church, but kept up her own organization, would 
there be schism? No, not as long as the relationship 
of communion which we now maintain continued, and 
it is quite probable that it would be maintained even 
though the Canadian Church might have some congre- 
gations and clergy in our dioceses and vice versa. 

So far as the whole important subject of Christian 
unity is concerned there is great need of a general 
return to the simple, reasonable, practicable doctrine 
of the Catholic Creed. The Christian Unity upon 
which Episcopal Church especially has set her heart 
is too idealistic. Idealism is all right in its place and, 
fortunately, it occupies a very large place in the little 
world of the individuals and in the great world of the 
races of mankind. No person or people can amount 
to much without ideals and an effort to attain them. 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 221) 

Many think that one of the most discouraging features 
about the Negro is his lack of a racial ideal. Ideals are 
the voices from the celestial world luring us up toward 
the mountain tops of civilization and to the gates of the 
New Jerusalem. They are the prize of the mark of our 
high calling. Blessed is the man, the family, the nation, 
the race that is dominated by idealism. But, then, a 
person or a people cannot be wholly given over to 
idealism in this world. The next world is the place 
where the idealist will be unfettered by the necessity 
of living with reference to practicalism. Too much 
idealism in the present life tends to keep down instead 
of to help onward and upward. We all have known 
men and women who were too idealistic for any use, 
and it is so with some peoples, the Hindoos for 
example. They have too much idealism and too little 
practicalism for this mundane existence, hence they 
have lost out and fallen back in the onward march. 
They will be perfectly at home in heaven, but, for the 
lack of practicalism, they are out of place on earth, 
even as some practicalists for the lack of idealism will 
be like fish out of water in heaven. By all means let 
us have ideals, but let us on no account forget that we 
are living in a practical world. 

Anglo-American Churchmen in considering the 
Appeal of Afro-American Churchmen for Bishops and 
Missionary Jurisdictions of their own should keep 
before them the great truth of the famous aphorism of 
President Cleveland: "We are confronted by a situa- 
tion, not an idea." In the Episcopal Church the 
"situation" is the failure of our work among Negroes. 
This situation has come into conflict with the "idea" 



230 The Crucial Eace Question 

that the jurisdiction of Bishops is geographical rather 
than spiritual ; and, this being the case, we must modify 
our idealism with a little practicalism. The command 
of our Lord is to feed his sheep. We, as a Church to 
which this command has been given, have found out 
that we cannot feed our Lord's Black Sheep with 
White Shepherds. We have had our "idea" about "one 
fold and one shepherd," but we have discovered that, 
whatever it may mean, it does not mean the Episcopal 
Church and a Diocesan Bishop with exclusive jurisdic- 
tion over a large expanse of country populated by 
widely diversified peoples. The "situation" proves 
the untenableness of the "idea." 

What shall we do? We are hedged in by tradition- 
alism. We must break through. Ideas are like other 
things when they are found to be useless they are 
abandoned for new and useful ideas. We examine this 
hedge of Episcopal Church traditionalism which is pre- 
venting us from obeying our Lord's command to feed 
his Black Sheep and to our surprise we find that Dio- 
cesan Episcopacy is not what we thought it was, an 
ideal something the pattern for which was given to the 
Apostles between the Resurrection and Ascension, or 
pn the Day of Pentecost, but a practical institution, a 
•growth which took place long after their time. It 
^probably never entered into the heart of an Apostle 
to conceive of Diocesan Episcopacy. They knew a 
great deal about Episcopacy, but they did not know 
anything about Diocesan Episcopacy. They knew that 
•Bishops as the official representatives of Christ and 
the Church had been commanded to feed the sheep 
and to go into all the world and preach the gospel to 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 231 

every nation or race; but they had no idea this com- 
mand required them to divide up the world into twelve 
or more Dioceses and to set an Apostle or Bishop over 
each with exclusive jurisdiction. The only dividing they 
did, of which we have any knowledge, was the dividing 
of peoples between the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, 
so that St. Peter became the recognized Apostle to the 
Jews and St. Paul to the Gentiles. 

The way out of our difficulty, then, is to abandon the 
idea that Diocesan Episcopacy is a Divine institution, 
and that Episcopal jurisdiction is territorial rather than 
spiritual. We are confronted by a situation that 
demands that we should do this and ideas must always 
give way before situations which cannot be squared 
with them. Situations are facts, and facts are of Divine 
authority. Ideas are safe guides and may be regarded 
as being of Divine authority until they bring us face to 
face with an insurmountable difficulty, but when that 
is the case we must abandon the guidance of the idea 
and be governed by the situation. Now that we are 
confronted by a situation, by the fact of the 
failure of White Shepherds to feed Black Sheep, we 
see in the light of that situation or fact, that the 
great commission of our Lord in no way determines 
whether or not there should be a Diocesan Episcopate ; 
nor is there any passage in the New Testament which 
teaches that there can be but one Bishop in any given 
territory. 

We still believe that when our Lord, after His resur- 
rection spoke to the Apostles "of the things pertaining to 
the Kingdom of God," He gave them instructions as to 
the organization of the church. We still think that what 



232 The Crucial Eace Question 

He told them, can be learned by what they did, and they 
organized Churches with a local ministry and sacra- 
ments and with the Episcopal supervision of the Apos- 
tles. In that sense all our people and Catholic Christians 
generally, believe that the Episcopate is Divine, and that 
it can never in this world be abolished. While we value 
Church unity and should be glad to make concessions 
to our Brethren of the various denominations in order 
to secure such unity, we cannot concede the historic 
Episcopacy. This is a sacred trust which we have 
received, and we, as faithful stewards, must guard it. 
But while we maintain that the Episcopacy is a Divine 
institution and therefore cannot be abrogated, we do 
not hold, and it cannot be supported, that Dio- 
cesan Episcopacy is of perpetual obligation. In 
the Preface to the Ordinal we read, "It is evident unto 
all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture and Ancient 
Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been 
these Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church — Bishops, 
Priests and Deacons." The three-fold Order of the 
Ministry is, then, of Apostolic origin and authority; 
but that the surface of the earth should be divided 
up into Dioceses and that each Diocese should have but 
one Bishop with jurisdiction, is not an arrangement of 
perpetual obligation. 

Diocesan Episcopacy with the exclusive jurisdic- 
tion of the Bishop, was a development and was 
adopted as the most expedient plan. In fact the 
Church solved its administrative problems on the 
principle of expediency ; and now the question comes — 
do not present conditions call for a departure from the 
theory of the exclusive jurisdiction of one Bishop in a 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 23 



•> 



given territory? As a fact we have departed from it. 
We send a Bishop to Mexico which has Bishops of 
Apostolic succession, and Anglican Episcopal Orders 
have been given to a Portuguese or Spaniard. 

The point is that the form of the Diocesan Episco- 
pacy is determined by expediency, and this means that 
it is determined by the leading of Providence, as that 
leading is seen in the circumstances of the Church in 
any given period. The time was when it was expedient 
to have such Bishops with exclusive jurisdiction ; but 
it does not follow that such a plan is binding 
for all time. I maintain upon utilitarian prin- 
ciples that it is now expedient to have racial 
Bishops for peoples living within the same geogra- 
phical area. To my mind expediency is often the 
indication of the will of Providence. In the case of the 
Church and the Negro it seems to me that Providence 
has shown us plainly that we should abandon the tra- 
ditional practice of the exclusive Episcopal jurisdiction 
over large geographical areas. So far as our Colored 
work is concerned, the traditional plan has been a mor- 
tifying failure ; and we must either abandon our colored 
work or adopt other measures which will produce 
better results. 

When, then, upon utilitarian principles, I insist on 
independent Bishops for the Negroes, I am only saying 
that we should follow the leading of Providence. Our 
present method has failed ; and to any man who really 
believes that God is still in the world, and that Christ 
is yet in His Church, or that we are living in the 
Dispensation of the Holy Ghost, that means that He 
does not intend that the Negroes shall have the benefit 



234 The Crucial Eace Question 

of our Church training through the Ministry of White 
Bishops. "The dismal failure of our Colored work is 
the Divine condemnation of our methods." 

A certain Bishop has said that he is opposed to the 
consecration of Colored Bishops, because he considers 
it to be his inherent right and obligation to be the 
Bishop of all the people in his jurisdiction. A most 
condemnable ambition ! But does not the good man 
see that he is not the Bishop of all the people in his 
jurisdiction? He is not the Bishop of the Roman 
Catholics, or of the Methodists, and if the statistics in 
the Church Almanacs are correct, he is not the Bishop 
of very many of the Negroes in his Diocese. So far as 
that Bishop's influence over these and other peoples 
is concerned, he might as well be the Bishop of 
Kamtchatka. 

II 

Now I am not recommending less of idealism for 
American Christianity but more of practicalism, or if 
you please, more of opportunism. Idealism is a 
good thing. Neither State nor Church can get along 
without it. But let us as American Christians learn 
from ourselves as American citizens. As citizens we 
should fall away from our civil idealism very rapidly 
if we found that it did not "materialize," "produce 
results," "work," "do things." How familiar these 
words and phrases sound to us in our civil and com- 
mercial realms. I say let us have more of them in our 
religious realm ; not less of idealism but more of oppor- 
tunism. 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 235 

Republican idealism touching the State sought to 
make a political citizen of the Afro-American, placing 
him upon the same footing with the Anglo-American. 
It put a great army in the field to support this ideal 
but it couldn't stand because it wouldn't work, 
and so the army was withdrawn and today the 
Republican Party, couldn't get a Corporal's guard 
from its own ranks to fight for that ideal. It's a dead 
issue and everybody realizes that, notwithstand- 
ing the Fifteenth Amendment and all the talk of a 
few Rip Van Winkle Republican and Negro idealists 
the Afro-American is not really politically a citizen 
of these United States on the same footing with the 
Anglo-American and that there is not even the remot- 
est possibility of his ever taking such a position. 

Why cannot our Catholic idealists see in the 
Church what the Republican idealists have seen in 
the State? If they were as wise as Children of the 
Light as they are as Children of the World, they would 
see that the Afro-American Churchman has no more 
place in an Anglo-American Diocesan Council, or Gen- 
eral Convention, than an Afro-American citizen has in 
a State Legislature or in the United States Congress. 

Will our Catholic idealists suffer me to explain to 
them once more that the Colored congregations of 
Arkansas are not now represented by delegates in the 
Diocesan Council and never again will be. They have 
been excluded because their presence wouldn't work. 
But the members of those congregations are no less 
members of the Catholic Church now than they were 
while their representatives were sitting in the Diocesan 
Council. 



236 The Crucial Race Question 

Catholics are generally great historians, but they 
are human and so they conveniently forget some- 
things which are out of line with their idealism. They 
have forgotten that nearly all of the colored congrega- 
tions of the North in the earliest days were admitted 
into communion with their Dioceses, but not into 
membership in the Conventions. Before they finally 
gained admission into Diocesan Conventions were 
they, or were they not, within the Catholic Church? 
There are two or three Colored congregations in South 
Carolina which have never been represented in their 
Diocesan Convention ; are they without the pale of the 
Catholic Church? Do not Catholics consider them to 
be congregations of the American Church? When did 
membership in the Church of Christ become limited 
to people who are members of a particular Parish 
or represented in some Diocesan Council or even 
National Convention? 

Afro-American Churchmen have never been so very 
conspicuous in either our Diocesan Councils or Gen- 
eral Convention save for their "out-of-placedness" in 
the one and their "absentness" in the other. Catholic 
idealism accords them rights in both bodies, but the 
Catholics have never been and they never will be 
able to "deliver the goods," except in very smjall part. 
One Negro Clergyman, elected an alternate deputy 
from Texas, was by chance a member of one General 
Convention. Since the Negroes are without practical 
membership in the General Convention, but are, never- 
theless members of the Catholic Church of Christ and 
are by a communion relationship a part of the Church 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 23V 

in America, why could they not be given their own 
General Convention, and still be members of the 
Catholic Church and in communion with the Amer- 
ican Church, observing no difference or separation 
except that of race, a difference and separation which 
no Catholic, or philanthropic, or Republican or any 
kind of idealism can do away with or ignore in this 
present, material, prosaic life, however it may be in the 
future, spiritual, ideal life? 

If we create a Colored Episcopate it could go out 
from us without cutting itself off from Christ and His 
Apostolic Church. All that would be involved in the 
forming of an independent Church by our Colored 
Brethren in the Lord would be the putting forth of a 
new branch from the great vine or tree of the Catholic 
Church of which Christ, and not the General Conven- 
tion or even a General Council is the root. The Afro- 
American, as well as the Anglo-American branch of 
the Catholic Church would adhere to that root and 
derive its Divine life from it. The Divine life which 
comes from Christ through connection with the Cath- 
olic Church is the important thing and so far as I 
know that life has never been inseparably connected 
with, much less derived from any Diocesan, National 
or even General Council. 

Surely no Catholic objector to an autonomous Afro- 
American Episcopate will seriously maintain that the 
General Convention is the source of ecclesiastical life 
or that connection with it is a requisite of Catholic 
Christianity. Well, then, in the light of all the history 
bearing upon the subject and in the name of common 



238 The Crucial Race Question 

sense, what is to be gained by the creation of an Afro- 
American "Missionary" Episcopate with "representa- 
tion" in the General Convention? The "Missionary" 
part of this idealistic scheme which is coming before 
the Richmond General Convention is all right. Mis- 
sions "work;" they "do things." But how about the 
representation" in our legislative assemblies? That 
won't work," and therefore if we as Children of the 
Light are as wise as the Children of the World it will 
be "cut out." The Diocese of Arkansas has cut out 
Negro representation and in her Memorial she begs 
the General Convention to "cut it out." 



K 



tt 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Southerner's Objection to the Arkansas Plan 

Against the proposition to create an Afro-American 
Episcopate it is urged in some quarters that experience 
teaches that Negro Bishops are not a success. This is 
what a distinguished advocate of the "let-well-enough- 
alone" policy says : "We have Negro Bishops in 
Africa and Hayti. If it can be shown that the Epis- 
copal leadership and work in Cape Palmas are sucess- 
ful, the same cannot be averred of Hayti, where the 
Church seems to be steadily declining. But the condi- 
tions and modes of meeting them there and here are 
widely different. Experience has not, it seems, sup- 
plied an efficient independent Negro Bishop. We 
doubt the ability to find one. The standard of leader- 
ship so far developed is not of the sort which we are 
accustomed to find in our Bishops." 

Now in reply to this we desire to say that it is a 
simple matter of fact that Bishop Ferguson had white 
predecessors who failed where he has succeeded. 
Bishop Ferguson was not chosen until after three 
white Bishops had died in the field or resigned from it, 
and it became evident that for climatic or racial 
reasons, a Negro Bishop was necessary. Now that the 
experiment of a colored Bishop for Cape Palmas has 
been made, will any one pretend that it has so far 
failed that when, in the Providence of God the time 
comes, a White Bishop will be elected to succeed 



240 The Crucial Eace Question 

Bishop Ferguson? Will a white Bishop be chosen to 
succeed Bishop Holly of Hayti? If no must be the 
answer to both of these questions as it undoubtedly 
must be, how can any one represent that the results of 
our experiments in the line of Colored Bishops have 
not been such as to encourage us to add to them. If 
Negroes have not the ability for Episcopal leadership, 
where can we hope to find successors for Bishops 
Ferguson and Holly? Certainly their white prede- 
cessors did not make anything like as good records as 
they have made. Without any previous experience 
our House of Bishops elected these two men for dis- 
tant fields and judging by their work, their personality, 
and the respect shown them in all parts of the Anglican 
Church, they have measured up to the full expectation 
of all reasonable people. 

If we do not make a favorable response to the 
natural appeal of our Afro-American brethren for 
Bishops and Jurisdictions of their own it will not be 
because Bishops Ferguson and Holly have been 
failures; for the real truth of the matter is that, all 
things considered, they have been conspicuous 
sucesses. 

But this objection is an important one not only 
because of its bearing upon the appeal but also because 
it is virtually a reflection upon the ability and worth of 
two Bishops who in the Providence of God have been 
called to do a work which none of their white brethren 
would care to undertake and which they have been 
doing much longer and much better than any of their 
white predecessors did. Let us, therefore, go more 
into particulars. 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 241 

1. That the Missionary Jurisdiction of Cape 
Palmas and parts adjacent has made more rapid pro- 
gress under the administration of Bishop Ferguson than 
under any of his predecessors or all of them together, 
the statistics will amply sustain. A recent picture in 
the Spirit of Missions of the Bishop and his Clergy, 
many of the latter converts from heathenism, will 
impress any observer favorably. The fact that the 
Diocese of Mississippi is willing to try the experiment 
of a Negro Bishop, but recommends that it shall be 
made in the person of Bishop Ferguson, is further 
evidence that the Church regards his administration 
as a success. 

2. It is however in regard to Hayti that most 
objectors base their assertions that our experience 
should caution us against the making of a favorable 
response to the appeal for an Afro-American Episco- 
pate. By many the work of Bishop Holly has not 
been considered a success. Now let us be fair and ask 
what are the conditions that have to be met in that 
island? The population of Hayti is 1,250,000, of which 
nine-tenths are pure Negroes, and nearly all the rest 
are Mulattoes, there being very few whites. The gov- 
ernment is Republican, the President being a Negro. 
The State religion is Roman Catholic, and Protestant- 
ism is simply tolerated. The people are mostly igno- 
rant and are entirely under the domination of the 
Roman Priests. It is a fact that not one Protestant 
Church, not excepting the Wesleyan Methodist 
Church, under white control, has been able to make 
any considerable headway in Hayti. Moreover the 



242 The Crucial Eace Question 

people speak a patois and not pure French. The 
English-speaking Missionary has not only to learn 
true French, which is the official language, but to 
preach to the people, he must learn their vernacular. 
To these Negroes in a tropical country, always at war 
among themselves politically, and concerned mostly 
with revolutions, satisfied with the easy-going mem- 
bership they possessed in the Roman Church, were 
sent our first Negro Missionaries. The Church never 
has sent a white Missionary to Hayti. From time to 
time she has sent white Bishops on visitations, one of 
whom died on board ship in the harbor of Port-au- 
Prince. It was a long time before the Rev. Mr. Holly 
could convince the Church in America that the work 
in Hayti needed the financial support of the mother, as 
well as resident Episcopal supervision. For some 
reason the American Church did not erect a Missionary 
Jurisdiction in the Republic of Hayti, as it has done 
in China, Japan, or even Africa where the first Bishops 
were white men. It went no further than to enter 
into a Concordat with the handful of Haytien Church- 
men, and establish them into an independent Church 
under the charge of a Commission of the House of 
Bishops. While the other mission work of the Church 
is entirely supported by the Domestic and Foreign 
Missionary Society, the Church in Hayti receives 
"Assistance ;" not any too much, either ! The Church 
never has squandered any money on the Negroes 
abroad or at home. Bishop Holly receives his stipend 
in full from the Board of Missions, while the other 
Clergy receive about one-third. As the people of Hayti 
are very poor and are crushed beneath the burdens of 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 243 

taxation, our Clergy are compelled to work, many of 
them at trades and agriculture for six days in the 
week, to support themselves, while the state aids the 
Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. 

When it is considered that so little help goes to 
Bishop Holly, and that his work is not supported 
financially as that of Bishop Ferguson, it must be 
acknowledged that He has done well, and further- 
more when it is considered that the island is Roman 
Catholic, and that the task of the Bishop is entirely 
that of proselyting, the results are gratifying. Begun 
in weakness, distressed with fire, epidemics, and 
death, disheartened from lack of support, with no resi- 
dent Bishop in the first twenty years of its existence, 
promoted by foreign Negro Missionaries among an 
African people but a step removed from savagery, 
opposed by the mighty power of the state Church, 
separated by land and water and by racial and political 
differences from the membership of the Mother 
Church, the poor little Haytien Church has neverthe- 
less been able to present the following statistics to 
the world in 1906: 

One Negro Bishop trained on the field, twelve 
Negro Clergy, not one of whom has gone from the 
United States, fifty lay-assistants and teachers, nine- 
teen Parishes and Missions, 719 communicants, 247 
day scholars, 353 Sunday scholars with 23 teachers, 
and the sum of $2,030 contributions collected within 
a year. 

Does any one believe that with all the hardships and 
peculiarities of the Church of Hayti, and under 
such conditions and isolation, a White Bishop would 



244 The Crucial Race Question 

have done as well there as Bishop Holly? I cannot 
admit it. 

Had Hayti been a Negro state in the United States 
of America and had Bishop Holly been consecrated 
and given jurisdiction over it, receiving the support 
that is given to our Missionary Bishops, is there not 
reason to believe that this pious and well learned man 
would have accomplished wonders such as no White 
Bishop in the United States has done? I believe he 
would have built up a self-supporting Afro-American 
Diocese in Georgia or even in Arkansas. 

If the progress of the work among these Negroes of 
former Latin relations, politically, religiously, and 
socially be compared with the progress of the work 
done among a higher type of people of the same con- 
nections such as Cubans, Mexicans and Brazilians, 
and if it be further remembered that we have sent to 
the latter some of our best white Missionaries with 
the support of influential Missionary organizations, as 
the former American Church Missionary Society, the 
results of the work done by our Negro Churchmen 
who went to Hayti as Missionaries will not 
suffer by the comparison. I submit that all things 
considered, Bishop Holly has been a great success. He 
was the original Missionary to Hayti. When a Bishop 
was to be consecrated for that field, as the pioneer 
Missionary he alone was the candidate. There were 
not 1 20 Colored Clergy from which to choose as in the 
United States at present. Upon him therefore fell the 
mantle and that he has done excellent work with the 
material and facilities at hand no unprejudiced person 
will deny. 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Archdeacon's Looking Glass, or the Conclusion of 

the Whole Matter 

I will close this appeal for an Afro-American Epis- 
copate with the narration of what I regard as a most 
interesting and significant occurrence which took place 
at the 1906 Session of the Council of the Diocese of 
Arkansas. The 1905 Session of that Council had 
excluded colored Churchmen from representation in 
it; but at the 1906 session in compliance with my 
request, an hour was set for the presentation of a 
report and for comments upon the Appeal of our Afro- 
American brethren for Missionary Jurisdictions and 
Bishops of their own by my colored Archdeacon, the 
Venerable George Alexander McGuire, M. A. The 
hour fixed was eleven o'clock on the second day of 
the Council, Thursday, May 10th, and the place was 
St. Paul's Church, Newport. I am) specific, because 
that turned out to be a memorable event in the history 
of the Diocese of Arkansas, and, if I mistake not, its 
influence is destined to be felt throughout the Amer- 
ican Church. 

It was not desired that there should be much, if 
any, of a congregation, beyond a full attendance of the 
Council, but the Woman's Auxiliary got wind of 



246 The Crucial Eace Question 

what was going on, and adjourned their Annual Dio- 
cesan Meeting to come in a body. Others heard of it 
and put in an appearance, until the Church was well 
filled with intensely interested auditors. As it was 
the first appearance in the Council of "the Bishop's 
Colored Archdeacon" and as his reputation as a 
preacher and worker of unusual merit had gone 
abroad, the people were especially anxious to see and 
hear him. I made the introductory address, which 
constitutes one of the Appendices of this Essay. 
While I was speaking the Archdeacon sat at my right, 
and when he arose to make his report and address, the 
silence was almost oppressive. The dropping of a 
pin could have been heard at any time while he was 
on the floor. 

When the Archdeacon had finished, I immediately 
bid the congregation to the noon-day prayers for 
Missions, one of which of course was, "O God, who 
hast made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
on the face of the whole earth, and didst send Thy 
Blessed Son to preach peace to them that are far off 
and to them that are nigh ; grant that all men, every- 
where, may seek after Thee and find Thee." The 
phrases "made of one blood all nations of men" and 
"to them that are nigh" had a thrilling effect upon us. 
When we arose from our knees, it was felt by every- 
body that so far as the work of the Church among 
the 400,000 poor, degraded colored people of Arkansas 
was concerned, a new era had commenced.. The scene 
that ensued was most interesting to me and it was 
exceedingly gratifying to Archdeacon McGuire. He 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 247 

was the only colored person in the Church. The con- 
gregation was composed very largely of the most 
prominent people of the State who, by reason of their 
antecedents, culture and social standing, would take 
high rank in any state of the Union. 

The creation of a colored Archdeacon for Arkansas 
and the introduction of him to the Council were bold 
steps, which, but for the drawing of the Color-Line, 
would nearly have wrecked the Diocese. And anyhow, 
if my choice unhappily had fallen upon a different type 
of man these steps might easily have caused me much 
unpopularity, might indeed have ruined all my plans for 
colored work and given the white church a set back 
from which it would not have recovered for a genera- 
tion. You may therefore imagine better than I can tell 
you what deep anxiety I felt about the impression the 
Archdeacon would make and the reception that would 
be accorded him, and how overjoyed I was when I saw 
the people crowding around him, introducing them- 
selves, shaking hands, and inviting him to the town 
or rural community in which they respectively resided. 
I doubt whether, all things considered, any Afro-Amer- 
ican minister of any religious body ever received such 
an ovation in any part of the South, or North. 

I have been at the pains of relating at some length 
this most unusual and altogether remarkable reception 
of my colored Archdeacon, because I am convinced 
that like the doll-baby incident, there is a deep and 
important truth lying at the basis of it, which must be 
more generally understood and appreciated, before the 
Church is likely to take any action upon the Appeal 



248 The Crucial Eace Question 

for Afro-American Bishops or to act wisely when it 
does move in this supremely important matter. 

Archdeacon McGuire's ovation was, of course, partly 
due to the fact that he is a very unusual Negro, to 
the attractiveness of his personality, the thoroughness 
of his education, the philosophical depth of his thought 
and the power to express himself in logical, persuasive, 
choice language. His address both as a literary and 
oratorical effort would have done any Clergyman or 
Layman of the Diocese of Arkansas great credit. 
Archdeacon McGuire is of the Booker Washington or 
Professor DuBois type of Negro. But he is a Negro! 
This being the case, all the personal graces and elo- 
quence of an Apollo would not have secured him 
that ovation from that people, if he had been entitled 
to a seat and vote in the Council of the Diocese of 
Arkansas. 

It was therefore the drawing of the "Color-Line" 
in our new Constitution and Canons which were 
enacted at the preceding Diocesan Council, and the 
Archdeacon's expressed recognition of the creation of 
such a line, that made the unique reception with which 
he was honored a possibility. Ladies as well as gen- 
tlemen hung upon his words, greeted him enthusias- 
tically and offered their services to assist him in his 
work. 

To me the whole scene was thrillingly dramatic, one 
that I shall never forget and for which I shall ever 
thank God. Archdeacon McGuire felt the same as I 
did about it. He afterwards told me that the rapt, 
respectful attention which was given him while speak- 
ing and the reception afterwards were such a surprise 



Objections to the Arkansas Plan 249 

to him that, upon returning to his room, he had to go 
straight to the looking-glass to make sure that he was 
colored instead of white. He agrees with me that the 
truly wonderful change which has taken place in 
Arkansas towards the work of the Church among 
colored people and the prospects of that work, is all 
due to the fact that it has been separated wholly and 
completely and permanently from the white work. 

Yes, it is the complete drawing of the Color-Line 
about our Church work that accounts for the tremend- 
ous difference, all the difference in the world, in the 
attitude of the white Churchmen of Arkansas towards 
their colored brethren, and ; believe me, such a drawing 
of the Color-Line would make a difference as wide as 
the East is from the West in every Diocese. More- 
over, what is true of Dioceses would be at least propor- 
tionately true of the American Church as a whole.* 



*I have concluded to add to this work an Appendix containing 
chiefly an address delivered by me and one by my colored Arch- 
deacon, the Ven. George Alexander McGuire, M. A., at the 1906 
Session of the Council of the Diocese of Arkansas and also extracts 
from three notable letters, one each from the Rt. Rev. Dr. Penick, 
sometime Bishop of Cape Talmas. Africa, the Rev. Dr. George 
Williamson Smith. ex-President of Trinity College, and a prominent 
Methodist Episcopal Minister whose identity I am not at liberty to 
reveal. I regard these appendices as constituting one of the most 
important parts of the book. A prominent Clergyman who read the 
proof thinks that it is invaluable and should be published separately 
for wide circulation as a tract on the subject of the Afro-American 
Appeal for racial Bishops. 



"We have our racial peculiarities, we have our 
separate social life with its sacred court where the 
white man enters not and where no welcome awaits 
him. No such barrier impedes the progress and path 
of the Negro Missionary leader. He has access at 
all times to our homes, our hearts and our social 
circles. We question not his sincerity, and we 
never regard him as acting towards us in a 
patronizing manner. We accept all his labors at 
their full value and believe him to have but one 
motive behind his efforts, viz : The salvation of 
his race and therefore of himself." — Archdeacon 
McGuire's address to the 1906 Conference of Church 
Workers Among Colored People. 



The Crucial Race Que&ion 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX I. 



APPENDIX II. 



APPENDIX III. 
APPENDIX IV. 

APPENDIX V. 



Concerning the Petition of the Conference of Church 
Workers among colored people for Afro-American 
Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions. From the 
Author's Episcopal Address to the 1906 Session of 
the Annual Council of the Diocese of Arkansas. 

The First Annual Missionary Report to the Bishop 
and Council of the Diocese of Arkansas by the Ven. 
George Alexander McGuire, M. A., Archdeacon of 
the Convocation of Arkansas, to which was added 
by the Bishop's request, remarks upon the Appeal of 
the Conference of Church Workers among Afro- 
Americans for Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions. 

Extracts from a letter of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Penick, 
sometime Bishop of Cape Palmas, Africa. 

Extracts from a letter of a Minister of the Methodist 
Church, South. 

A letter from the Rev. George Williamson Smith, 
D. D., ex-President of Trinity College, to the Rt. 
Dr. Satterlee, Bishop of Washington, a copy of 
which President Smith kindly sent to the Author 
and upon his request gave consent to this publication 
of it. 



APPENDIX I 

r 

Concerning the Petition of the Conference of Church 
Workers Among Colored People for Afro-American 
Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions — From the 
Author's Address to the 1906 Session of the 
Annual Council of the Diocese of Arkansas. 

At the last General Convention, a joint committee 
of five Bishops, five Priests and five Laymen was 
appointed to consider the memorial of the Conference 
of Church Workers among Colored People in which 
they asked that provision be made for Afro-American 
Missionary Jurisdictions and Bishops. This Com- 
mittee was charged with the duty of gathering 
information concerning the mind of the Church upon 
the subject of the memorial, and to report the result 
of their inquiries and conferences at the next General 
Convention. 

The chairman of the committee, the Bishop of 
Louisiana, has requested from all the Southern 
Bishops an expression of views respecting the action 
that should be taken in response to the memorial. 
I received the letter in which he asked for my opinion 
some months ago, but have delayed compliance with 
his request until the meeting of this Council in order 



254 The Crucial Race Question 

that my reply might be made a part of this official 
address and draw out an expression from our Clergy 
and representative Laity. 

I shall be glad to send to the committee, as an 
appendix to my answer, any resolution that you pass, 
I shall not be at all hurt if you do not see things as I 
do. What the committee wants to know is the mind 
of the Church touching this exceedingly important 
matter which has become one of the crucial questions 
of the Church and I could think of no better way of 
making them aware of that mind, so far as it is repre- 
sented by the Bishop, Clergy and Laity of our 
Diocese, than by pursuing the course which I have 
taken the liberty to adopt. I trust that you will not 
object to my effort to draw you out and I am sure that 
the Committee will be grateful to you for your help 
in enabling it to discharge its duty. Moreover our 
discussion will contribute to prepare our delegates to 
take a helpful part in the great discussion that is 
destined to be one of the memorable features of the 
General Convention which is to be held in Richmond 
next year. 

Our Colored Brethren in the Lord have asked for 
the Missionary Episcopate, but, in what I have to say 
about the response that should be made by the Gen- 
eral Convention to their petition, I shall assume that, 
if they cannot have what they want, they will take 
what they can get, rather than have things go on as 
at present. It seems to me that the General Conven- 
tion could make any one of the following four replies : 
(i) We are unable to grant your request. (2) We 
will give you that for which you ask, Missionary 



Appendix I 255 

Bishops and Jurisdictions. (3) We cannot give you 
the Missionary Episcopate but we are glad to offer 
you Suffragan Bishops. (4) We cannot give you the 
Missionary or Suffragan Episcopate, but if you desire 
it, by consecrating three independent Colored Bishops, 
we will make it possible for you to have an auton- 
omous Afro-American branch of the Catholic Church. 

I propose to discuss each of these possible replies, 
and to try to make it appear that the last is the one 
that should be made, for I have reached the conviction, 
which is constantly deepening, that we ought to create 
an autonomous Afro-American Church. 



We are Unable to Grant Your Request. 

There is no doubt in my mind that many in both 
Houses of the General Convention will be unalterably 
in favor of this reply. Indeed, I feel quite sure that if 
the General Convention were to meet in October, 1906, 
instead of 1907, this would be true of the majority. 

But though I am not in favor of granting the request 
of our Colored Brethren for Missionary Bishops and 
Jurisdictions, I think it would be a great mistake not 
to offer them some form of the Episcopate, and I am 
glad to be able to entertain a hope that before the 
meeting of the Convention the change of opinion will 
be such as to put the majority in the ranks of those 
who feel as I do about this perplexing matter. I 
found this hope upon some remarkable changes of 
opinion in high places that to my personal knowledge 



256 The Crucial Race Question 

have taken place since the last meeting of the 
General Convention. These changes, it seems to me, 
clearly indicate that public sentiment in the Church 
is setting in the right direction, and that it is likely 
to continue so until it accumulates force enough to 
carry the day by a small majority. 

The arguments which those who are against a favor- 
able reply of any kind are using at this stage of the 
discussion are: (i) They have no man to fill the 
position which they desire us to create, and (2) If 
we comply with their request it will be only a very 
short time before they will create a schism by going 
out from us. 

I. With respect to the first of these reasons why 
the General Convention should not make a favorable 
reply to its Afro-American memorialists, those who 
take my view of our duty are admitting that, if we 
create a Colored Episcopate, its personnel can not, in 
the nature of things, be of as high an average as that 
of our Episcopate, but we say, the Colored Bishops 
Avould bear the same relation to their Clergy and 
Laity as the White Bishops do "to theirs. 

We white people are far from having perfection in 
our Bishops. This being the case, upon what ground 
can we reasonably expect perfection in Colored 
Bishops? In all the National Churches of the world 
there is not a single College of Bishops which would 
not collapse today, if perfection were a pre-requisite 
of its existence. I know of at least one Colored 
Priest that I should have no hesitancy in nominating 
for the Episcopate and I know of other Bishops whs 
feel the same way about Colored Clergymen within 



Appendix I 257 

their respective circles of acquaintance. This being 
the case, we think the first of these two objections to 
the creation of a Colored Episcopate will not stand. 

2. The other objection to the giving of the Epis- 
copate to our Colored Brethren is based upon the 
fear of a schism. This objection will naturally come 
up for careful consideration when we come to discuss 
the advisability of creating an independent Afro- 
American Church, but in passing let me say that I 
am hoping to show that it rests upon a misconception 
respecting the Catholicity and unity of the Church. 



II. 



We Will Give You that for Which You Ask-Missionary 
Bishops and Jurisdictions. 

Among those who are disposed to grant the petition 
of Colored Churchmen for the Episcopate, probably 
a majority are in favor of giving them what they ask 
for: Missionary Bishops. But this is not the case 
with myself. I believe that the creation of a Colored 
Episcopate would be such an uplift to the work of 
the Church among Afro-Americans and that the wide 
dissemination of our Prayer Book religion would be 
so great a blessing to them that sometimes I almost 
bring myself to the point of willingness to vote in 
favor of giving them our Missionary Episcopate rather 
than have them fail in getting Bishops of any kind. 

But I am fully persuaded in my own mind (and as 
time goes on, many among the colored as well as 
white people, who are not now in accord with me, will 



258 The Crucial Eace Question 

come to see) that the Missionary Episcopate would 
not be the best thing for either of the races concerned. 
In fact, the conviction grows upon me, that the giving 
of Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions to our 
Colored Brethren would defeat the end they have in 
view, so much so, that while seemingly it would be a 
granting of their petition, it would in reality be a 
practical denial of it. 

What Afro-American Churchmen really want, or 
at least what they need are two things: (i) They 
want or need to be in a position which will make it 
possible for them ultimately to have a Bishop for 
every Southern State and three or four Bishops for 
the Northern States, and (2) they want or need to be 
in a position ultimately to develop a national church 
for themselves along racial lines. 

1. If the statement that these are needs of Afro- 
American Churchmen is challenged, and I am well 
aware it will be both in white and colored quarters, I 
reply: Afro-Americans already number ten millions 
and it is quite within the range of probabilities that 
before the close of the present century they will reach 
twenty millions. But even if there should not be such a 
rapid increase of population, no reflecting person who 
knows anything about the stupendous work to be 
accomplished will seriously argue that a college of 
fifteen or twenty Bishops will be any too large ; on 
the contrary, everybody with any experience in 
Missionary undertakings must admit that it would 
be far too small. 

2. And in defense of the claim that Afro-Americans 
need freedom for the ultimate development of a 



Appendix I 259 

national church for themselves along racial lines, let 
me say, that it is now freely admitted on every hand 
that we must ultimately give a native Episcopate to 
the Japanese and Chinese and allow them to develop 
national Churches. Many among us are contending 
that the sooner we do so the better it will be for 
Christianity in Japan and China. 

Well, then, if we ought to give China and Japan a 
native Episcopate in order that they may have racial 
churches, why should we not do the same for the 
Afro-Americans who are at our door? I think that 
this question can never be satisfactorily answered by 
those who object to the granting of the petition to the 
General Convention made by the Conference of Church 
Workers among colored people. 

But, however all this may be, it is an indisputable 
fact that our Colored Brethren want Bishops enough 
and freedom enough to enable them through the 
Church to do for themselves very much more than 
has so far been accomplished or is now being done. 
No one, I think, black or white, will call this statement 
in question. Here we are certainly upon solid ground. 
We take our stand upon this secure position and say 
that the Missionary Episcopate would not give Afro- 
American Churchmen what they need in respect either 
to number of Bishops or degree of freedom. The argu- 
ments which I offer against the granting of the 
petition presented by the Conference of Church 
Workers among colored people are the following: 

i. The first objection against the creation of a 
Colored Missionary Episcopate is based upon the fact 
that it would involve the overlapping of jurisdictions 



260 The Crucial Eace Question 

and therefore it could not be extended to Dioceses 
of Bishops who do not want it. Now, there are 
several among the Southern Bishops who are known 
to be strongly opposed to the giving of any form of 
the Episcopate to Negroes and this is also true of not 
a few border line and Northern Bishops. It appears 
therefore that the Missionary Episcopate would be 
shut out of a number of Dioceses because their Bishops 
would not consent to their entrance. The introduc- 
tion of Colored Bishops into some Dioceses and their 
exclusion from others certainly would be a great dis- 
advantage to the Afro-American Episcopate and such 
unevenness of treatment would inevitably give rise 
to criticism, friction and heart burnings. The over- 
lapping of jurisdictions and its unhappy consequences 
constitute an almost, if not quite, insuperable difficulty 
in the way of the creation of Colored Missionary 
Bishops and Jurisdictions. 

2. Another, to my mind, even greater objection to 
creating such an Episcopate arises from the fact that 
its representatives would have seats and votes in the 
House of Bishops and that their Clergy and People 
would send delegates to the House of Deputies. 

If the proposed Missionary Episcopate is to cover 
the field to any efficient purpose, there must be from 
the beginning at least four or five Bishops and as time 
goes on this number must be increased until there are 
twenty or more of them. I do not know of anybody 
who very seriously objects to the presence of our one 
Foreign Negro Bishop in the Upper House whose 
jurisdiction is not represented in the Lower House, 
but I think that I know of a good many who would 



Appendix I 261 

squirm a little if half a dozen American Negro Bishops 
with delegations were to have seats and votes in the 
General Convention ; and I am morally certain that the 
presence of as many as twenty of them would be intol- 
erable to the majority in both the House of Bishops 
and the House of Deputies, and would work great 
harm to the Church. 

The expectation of complications arising from an 
increasing Negro representation in their legislative 
bodies is keeping Northern and Southern Presby- 
terians from coming together. The Southerners are 
insisting upon the elimination of the Negro from local 
and general assemblies, and they have a very respect- 
able minority of Northern sympathizers. 

It may be well for us to note also that the Northern 
Methodist Episcopal Church has not been able to 
adjust the question of Negro Bishops. In three or 
four of its General Conferences this matter has been 
of paramount importance. There is a disposition to 
grant Negro Bishops for Negro Conferences, of 
which there are seventeen, but the Negroes want 
Bishops of their race to preside over Conferences of 
white people also, as the white Bishops preside over 
Negroes as well as over their own race. A majority 
has always been against the granting of this demand 
and it is likely to continue so. 

3. Another serious, and I think conclusive objection 
against granting to the Conference of Church Workers 
among Colored People what they ask for, Missionary 
Jurisdictions and Bishops, is based upon the fact, that, 
for reasons which have just appeared, it would pre- 
vent the realization of their hope. For the granting 



262 The Crucial Eace Question 

of their request would in all probability give them 
only one Bishop to begin with, as an experiment, and 
as under the conditions that would confront him, 
failure would be inevitable, there would be little or no 
increase to the Afro-American Episcopate, and so the 
whole movement in which so much hope is centered 
by our Colored Brethren would come to a disappoint- 
ing end, and harm rather than good to all the interests 
concerned would be the net result. 

It seems to me that the creation of an Afro-American 
Missionary Episcopate would be a great mistake, 
because, as I have shown, it involves the overlapping 
of Jurisdictions, representation in our General Con- 
vention, and the consecration of an inadequate number 
of Bishops who will be handicapped to such an extent 
that they will not be able to accomplish the good that 
is hoped for. 

III. 

We Cannot Give You the Missionary Episcopate, but 
We are Glad to be Able to Offer You Suffragan 
Bishops. 

Some among the leading men of both the South and 
North have been inclined to prefer the Suffragan to the 
Missionary Episcopate for Afro-American Churchmen, 
because they would not necessarily have a seat and 
they could not have a vote in the House of Bishops ; 
nor could colored Priests and Laymen be represented 
in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies. 

Others prefer the Suffragan form of the Episcopate 
because they think that in the course of time the con- 



Appendix I 263 

ditions which now make separate race Bishops neces- 
sary will pass away and that then the practice of 
electing them can be discontinued. 

But while I would very much prefer the Suffragan 
to the Missionary Episcopate, if compelled to choose 
between them, yet I am convinced that the conditions 
which make colored Bishops a necessity at this time 
are here to stay, and that the Suffragan Episcopate 
would not meet the requirements of the situation 
because the colored Bishops would be tied to the 
apron strings of the white Bishops. This objection 
to the creation of a Suffragan Episcopate obtains also 
to some degree against the Missionary Episcopate. 

If our branch of the Catholic Church is ever to take 
root among Afro-Americans and be one of the great 
means of their salvation, we must, in my humble judg- 
ment, give them an Episcopate which will have a 
much freer hand than it would have if either the 
Suffragan or even the Missionary type of it were 
given it. 

A Suffragan Bishop would practically be only an 
Archdeacon and I really believe that all things con- 
sidered an independent convocational system, such 
as we have in Arkansas, headed by a Priest-archdea- 
con, works with less friction and as good practical 
results as it would with a Bishop-archdeacon. But, 
though our system is altogether the best solution of 
the race problem that has so far been reached in any 
Diocese of the American Church, yet even it is con- 
fessedly of an incomplete character. Unless our Afro- 
American Convocation develops into an Afro-Amer- 
ican Diocese with an Afro-American Bishop at itb 



2G4 The Crucial Race Question 

head, there is no great future before it. It will bring 
no fruit to perfection. Under the warm, sunny influ- 
ence of the hope of better things, there will be for a 
time much promising budding; but if that hope is 
long deferred and ultimately disappointed the blos- 
soming will diminish and issue in dust. 



IV. 



We Cannot Give You the Missionary or Suffragan 
Episcopate, but if You Desire It, by Consecrating 
Three Independent Colored Bishops, We Will Make 
it Possible for You to Have an Autonomous 
Afro-American Church. 

So far as I know, I am the only Bishop who feels 
that what the Afro-American needs and what we 
should give to him is an independent Episcopate such 
as the Mother Church of England gave to us about one 
hundred years later than it should have been given. 

I say that I know of no Bishop who takes the view 
of this matter that I do and I may add that there 
seem to be very few Clergymen and Laymen, colored 
or white, who look at it from my point of view. The 
obstacle in the way of their doing so is the supposition 
that such an Episcopate would involve the creation 
of a schism. 

Let me lead up to my argument in favor of an 
Autonomous rather than a Missionary or Suffragan 
Colored Episcopate by the confession that I am 
wholly given over to the somewhat unpopular idea 
that if Afro- Americans are ever to develop into a great 



Appendix I 265 

people they must ultimately return to Africa or go 
to some place where they will be able to set up their 
own national institutions and govern themselves, 
making use, in their more favorable environments, of 
what they have learned in America. 

The American Negro can never do anything great 
until, so to speak, he gets through school and strikes 
out for himself. While he remains with us, and this 
probably will be, and for his own good ought to be, 
two or three hundred years longer, he will always be 
overshadowed by the white man and he will be kept 
down and depressed by the hardships and persecutions 
which through all history have been the lot of every 
people which has been situated as he is. At present 
one of his great defects is his lack of race pride. This 
defect must be corrected before there can be any out- 
look and hope for the race. But this can not be accom- 
plished without self-government. 

Now, inasmuch as political self-government for a 
race situated as is the American Negro, always has 
been, is now and ever will be impossible and out of 
the question, the only field in which he can get off 
by himself and try his hand at self-government, is 
the ecclesiastical field. 

With the Negro, religious self-government must 
necessarily come first ; and, for that matter, it generally 
has come first in the case of the other races. It was 
certainly so with the Jews, and it has been more or 
less so with ourselves. The Jews never would have 
gone out of Egypt but for their religion. Their leaders 
were ecclesiastical princes. The Heptarchy of our 



266 The Crucial Race Question 

English ancestors was fused into one nation and slowly 
developed into the Empire of Great Britain, through 
the influence of our historic Church of the English 
speaking race. Even the Government of these United 
States, as Bishop Randall has shown, was largely 
shaped according to ecclesiastical lines. 

Therefore, I say, that one of the best and most far- 
reaching things that the American Church could do 
at her next General Convention, would be to make 
provision for the consecration of four colored Priests 
to the Episcopate, and "turn them loose" to organize a 
separate Autonomous Afro-American Branch of the 
Catholic Church. I feel that anything short of this 
is sure to be only a half-way, temporary, unsatisfactory 
measure. 

But, it will be asked, do you believe in the Catho- 
licity of the Church, and, if so, how do you reconcile 
the idea of racial churches with that belief? 

I answer, yes ; I do believe in the Catholicity of the 
Church. It is Christ's Church, and, therefore, it must 
be Catholic. He founded His Church to save the 
world, the whole world. He founded only one Church, 
and He founded it to save the Black world, and the 
Yellow world, and the White world, the whole world. 
Yes, indeed ; I do believe in the One Holy Catholic 
and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. 

But, nevertheless, I think that it was the Lord's 
intention to save each of these three worlds by its own 
Episcopate. He said, to a white Jewish Episcopate, 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel," 
that is, make provision for the preaching of it to every 
creature. That He did not intend to save every part 



Appendix I 267 

of the whole world by the Jewish Episcopate is 
evident from the simple, palpable fact that as soon as 
Christianity spread to the Gentile part of the white 
world, a Gentile Episcopate developed. The Gentile 
Episcopate came into existence so early, and it has 
been so widespread, continuous, overshadowing and 
fruitful, as to conclusively prove from every point of 
view its right to existence by Divine appointment. 

Moreover, the fact that the Gentile Episcopate 
exists also proves, by a necessary logical inference, 
that the Lord did not intend the black, yellow and 
white worlds to be saved by one Episcopate, for if 
the Gentile part of the white world could not be saved 
by the Episcopate of the Jewish part of that world, 
what ground is there in reason upon which to rest 
the supposition that the black and yellow worlds can 
be saved by the Episcopate of the white world? We 
answer, None whatsoever; and we are ready to 
prove that no other answer can be supported by either 
logical arguments or historical facts. 

While I was settling down to the conviction that it 
is our duty to give an autonomous Episcopate to our 
Colored Brethren in the Lord, I had a conversation 
with the learned Dr. Williamson Smith, who was at 
that time the President of Trinity College. After 
some discussion he said, as nearly as I can remember 
his encouraging words, "I believe you are on solid 
ground, for in traveling through Eastern countries 
where different races are found together much more 
than in Western lands, I observed that in some places 
there were as many as three or four Bishops 
each ministering to his own people; and upon 



268 The Crucial Race Question 

inquiry, I found this to have been the case from time 
immemorial." 

I therefore believe in the Catholicity of the Church 
as a whole, not in the Catholicity of individual con- 
gregations or Dioceses or even of National or Racial 
Churches. There never has been and never will be 
any such Catholicity in this world. 

As matters now stand, no one but an unobserving, 
impractical theorist would maintain seriously that 
any congregation, in a Southern community, can be 
Catholic enough to include both the black and the 
white people and what is true in this respect of our 
congregations, is true, or rapidly becoming so, of our 
Diocesan Councils, and would become so of our 
General Convention in proportion to the increase of 
colored Bishops and delegates. 

But did not St. Paul say, "There is neither Jew nor 
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither 
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus?" 

In replying to the objection to my views based upon 
this text, I will say that I am willing to add what the 
Apostle for some inexplicable reason left out, namely, 
"In Christ Jesus there is neither black nor white." 
Nevertheless, I contend that this and other texts of 
the same import can not legitimately be so interpreted 
as to condemn such distinctions and separations 
among Christians as would be effected by the drawing 
of the ecclesiastical Color-Line, because such an inter- 
pretation would make nonsense of them. 

Take the text under consideration, which is the 
chief and consequently the most frequently quoted of 
all such texts ; if it be interpreted in accordance with 



Appendix I 269 

the views of those who consider that the true doctrine 
of the Church's Catholicity involves the necessity 
of ignoring the Color-Line, it would plainly teach that 
Christian men and women are obliged to ignore all 
other distinctions, such for instance as "male and 
female." 

Therefore, all that such texts can legitimately be 
made to mean, is that Christians should not draw dis- 
tinguishing lines which God has not drawn. But the 
Color-Line, like the sex line, was drawn by God, and 
this being the case, it is evidently the duty of all 
concerned to recognize its existence in the social insti- 
tutions of the Family, State and Church, and to 
govern ourselves accordingly. 

The Anglican Communion is divided into national 
churches, such as the Church of England, the Church 
of the United States, the Church of Canada, and the 
rest. These national, autonomous divisions in the 
Church are largely due to the geographical lines 
which God has drawn. 

Now, as we have said, God has also drawn the Color- 
Line between the white and black races. This line is 
as distinct and as insurmountable a barrier to eccle- 
siastical unity as any geographical line. Why then 
may not Catholic black and white Bishops occupy 
overlapping Afro-American and Anglican Catholic 
Dioceses in the United States without dividing the 
body of Christ? 

Thus the question as to whether or not we should 
allow the Catholic Church in the United States to be 
divided by the Color-Line, resolves itself into a question 



270 The Crucial Race Question 

of expediency pure and simple. Is it wise or is it not 
wise to create the division ? The whole matter hinges 
upon the wisdom of the proposal and not at all upon 
any Catholic principle involved in it. 

It will be contended that an autonomous Church even 
more than a Missionary Episcopate would deprive 
colored Churchmen of our financial support and moral 
guidance. But, if the now generally accepted theory 
respecting the necessity of drawing the Color-Line, in 
order that the unfortunate gulf between the whites 
and blacks of the South may be bridged, be correct, the 
effect of autonomy would be highly beneficial in draw- 
ing out the sympathy and help of the stronger race 
towards the weaker. And that such would be the 
case is demonstrated (on a small scale, to be sure, but 
straws show which way the wind is blowing) by our 
experience in Arkansas. 

We have effected an entire and complete separation 
of the work of the Church among our colored and 
white people, so much so that we practically have 
two Dioceses in Arkansas but with only one Bishop 
over both. The first steps in the rugged way of such 
a separation were taken in 1903 and the goal was 
reached at our last Council in 1905. Before this was 
done the outlook for the work of the Church among 
the colored people of Arkansas was very unsatis- 
factory, in fact it was absolutely hopeless. But in 
one short year the whole prospect has become bright 
and encouraging to a high degree. 

Until we set our colored work off as a practically 
wholly separate and distinct department of the Church 
in Arkansas we had only one Afro-American 



Appendix 1 271 

Congregation, St. Philip's, Little Rock. And 
there was no substantial hope for another anywhere 
in the Diocese. But though that was all we had to 
show as the result of twenty years of work along the 
old unnatural lines, its property was out of the way, 
cramped, insignificant and dilapidated, so that it had 
to be abandoned. As soon as the separation was 
resolved upon, we sold that property, and have bought 
a lot ioo by 150 feet in the very center of that portion 
of the Negro population to which the Church most 
strongly appeals. This lot alone with two small, but 
useful dwellings cost $4,500. 

We have built a combination Sunday School and 
Industrial School costing $1,500. We have bought 
another large lot in South Little Rock and are 
building a combination Church and School House 
upon it. That property will be worth $2,500. We 
have opened up a very promising work at Hot Springs 
and are planning to go to Pine Bluff and Newport in 
the near future. At least two new Churches are to be 
built and two additional workers to be put in the field 
every year from this on for ten years. Such accom- 
plishments and plans would have been altogether out 
of question under the old conditions. 

We believe that an Autonomous Colored Episco- 
pate would capture the flower of the Negro population 
of Arkansas for the Afro-American Catholic Church 
which we recommend the 1907 General Convention to 
establish. 



"I can conceive no more pitiable paradox than 
that of the young white Christian in the South 
to-day who really believes in the ethics of Jesus 
Christ. What can he think when he hangs upon his 
church doors the sign that I have often seen, 'All 
are welcome.' He knows that half the population 
of his city would not dare to go inside that church. 
Or if there was any fellowship between Christians, 
white and black, it would be after the manner 
explained by a white Mississippi clergyman in all 
seriousness : 'The whites and Negroes understand 
each other here perfectly, sir, perfectly; if they 
come to my church they take a seat in the gallery. 
If I go to theirs, they invite me to the front pew 
or the platform.'"— "The Negro in the South," by 
Prof. DuBois, page 176. 



APPENDIX II 

The First Annual Missionary Report to the Bishop and 
Council of the Diocese of Arkansas by the Ven. 
George Alexander McGuire, M. A., Archdeacon of 
the Convocation of Arkansas, to which was added, 
by the Bishop's request, remarks upon the appeal of 
the Conference of Church Workers among Afro- 
Americans for Missionary Bishops and Jurisdictions 

To the Rt. Rev. Wm. Montgomery Brown, D. D... 
Bishop of Arkansas, and to the Members of the 
1906 Diocesan Council : 

Rt. Rev. Father in God and Brethren: Acting 
under authority of Canon VII, of this Diocese, the 
Bishop, deeming it needful for the development of 
our Church work among the people of African descent 
in this State, established the Convocation of Arkansas 
and appointed me on November 1, 1905, its first Arch- 
deacon. It is with much satisfaction that I submit 
this report covering my six months' service in this 
field of labor. 

********** ***** 

Having given this report of half a year's work in a 
new and difficult field, I ask permission to make some 
statements of a more general nature. 



274 The Crucial Eace Question 

When the Council took Canonical measures provid- 
ing for the separation of the Afro-American work 
from its general work, much unfavorable criticism 
was heard in many quarters. From my experience in 
the field, I am of the opinion that such separation was 
wise and timely, and will prove to be of advantage co 
the growth of the Church in this Diocese among both 
races. If, as is evident, Abraham and his herdsmen, 
and Lot and his herdsmen, cannot dwell together in 
perfect peace and prosperity, then let them divide the 
land between them, the one party dwelling on the 
right hand and the other on the left. 

There need be no strife between us, for we be 
brethren. Like the two rails of the track, we may 
parallel each other throughout the journey, support- 
ing the same train, without meeting at any point, each 
rail preserving its identity and independence of the 
other, yet each being necessary to the onward move- 
ment. The Canon creating this Convocation also 
directs that when there shall be six parishes or 
missions in its membership, a Constitution and 
Canons, not conflicting with those of this Diocese or 
of the General Church, shall be adopted, and that said 
Convocation may provide for its independence of this 
Council. The legislation here referred to is fair, far- 
reaching, and statesmanlike, and the leading Negro 
clergy and laity are asking that the Church at large 
shall take steps to have all its work in the South 
among colored people arranged after this plan, with 
added Episcopal oversight by Bishops of the same 
race. The Church should meet this issue as squarely 
as this Diocese has done. 



Appendix II 275 

The most vexed problem of the American people 
is that which concerns the Afro-American. He is the 
storm-center around which rages our greatest contro- 
versies, whether in politics, religion, society or edu- 
cation. The American Church is being irresistibly 
drawn into the whirlpool. Other religious bodies, 
which include in their membership a Negro following, 
and are concerned about their responsibility for the 
extension of their work among Afro-Americans, have 
been grappling bravely with the situation, recognizing 
meanwhile the traditions and peculiarities of our 
Southland. It cannot be said that the Episcopal 
Church has been indifferent to her responsibility as 
well as her adaptability to the Negro race. She has 
accomplished much good. But that she has been 
lethargic, penurious, lacking in enthusiastic and united 
action, and in the thorough arousing of her conscience 
in this matter, cannot be gainsaid. 

It became necessary, therefore, for the Twentieth 
Annual Conference of Colored Church Workers to 
send a Memorial to the last General Convention ask- 
ing the adoption of a Canon providing for the arrange- 
ment of the Southern Negro work into Missionary 
Jurisdictions, under Special Missionary Bishops of the 
Negro race, who shall have all the rights and privil- 
eges of Missionary Bishops, and who shall be advised 
by the Diocesan Bishops in whose Dioceses their 
Jurisdictions may be located. Knocking at the door 
of the Church, our voice has been heard, and we now 
await the answer of the next General Convention. 
We have asked for bread, shall we receive a stone? 
For fish, shall we receive a serpent? We have asked 



276 The Crucial Eace Question 

for the- adoption of this Canon only after deliberate 
judgment and mature thought on the part of our lead- 
ing Negro churchmen, believing it to be the best 
means of correlating the Negro work of the Church 
to her other efforts without unnecessary friction and 
along the lines of least resistance. Loyal as church- 
men, second to no other race in love for, and loyalty 
to the standards of the Church, and eager that the 
advantages which we have derived from membership 
in her shall be extended to our fellow Afro-Americans, 
we petition the "powers that be" to so equip us that 
we may be able to do self-respecting work among our 
brethren. Will the Church deal with this question 
impartially, or will she further befog the problem? 
Will she simply introduce and apply to our needs the 
Suffragan Episcopate, which, while a long step in the 
right direction, would be labor spent upon the scaf- 
folding rather than upon laying a solid foundation for 
the future superstructure? Or, will she decide that it 
is expedient, at this time, to grant that which we ask? 

The question is passing through the refining pot. 
The crucial hour is upon us. Ten million Afro- 
Americans await anxiously the result of the test. The 
Church cannot afford to treat with us in beautiful 
generalizations any longer. She must be definite, deci- 
sive and clear. An entire race, comprising over one- 
ninth of the total population of the land and containing 
over ten times as many souls as communicants in our 
Church, appeals to the fair-minded, liberty-loving, 
Catholic Church of the Anglo-Saxon, as a court of last 
resort. Will she rise supremely to the opportunity 



Appendix II 277 

and the duty of the hour, and considering racial dif- 
ferences, prejudices and peculiarities, relieve her 
Negro clergy and people of much embarrassment and 
supply them with the entire machinery for doing 
successful work among their own race without 
becoming schismatics, or asking for an autonomous 
"ecclesiola in ecclesia?" 

Two great objections have been raised against 
special Missionary Jurisdictions. One of these can be 
very readily answered and dismissed. It is feared by 
some that Negro Bishops, as members of the House of 
Bishops, would add difficulties in the matter of pro- 
viding them with hospitality and entertainment. I do 
not think so. Were I a member of this Council, as I 
have been in all other Dioceses in which I have 
labored, North and South, I should not seek hospi- 
tality from any other source but among my own race, 
even as I have done here in Newport , to the people of 
which town I am a perfect stranger. I should not 
expect or accept invitations to functions that might 
be embarrassing to me or any other person or persons. 
And just as the only Negro member of the House of 
Bishops was entertained by the Negroes of Boston in 
1904, so could several such have been entertained. 
The Church need give herself no uneasiness on this 
phase of the question. Negro churchmen are 
possessed of common sense. They respect their own 
feelings, as well as the customs and traditions of the 
land. At the last Quadrennial Conference of the 
great Methodist Episcopal Church, there were eighty- 
three Negro delegates in attendance out of a total of 
750, or one in nine, and their entertainment afforded 



278 The Crucial Eace Question 

no problem, as Negroes prefer to be entertained by- 
Negroes, even as Whites by Whites. The colored 
churchmen of Richmond are even now looking 
forward to the entertainment of any of their brethren 
who may visit the next General Convention. 

The strong objection made is that violence would be 
done to the well-established principle of ecclesiastical 
and diocesan territorial rights, and that a dangerous 
and radical precedent would be established if Mission- 
ary and Diocesan Bishops were permitted to operate 
in the same territory. Is it forgotten that in Apostolic 
times, St Peter was sent to the Circumcision and St. 
Paul to the Uncircumcision by the Mother Church 
in Jerusalem, each to minister in the same wide field, 
and each given jurisdiction, not over so many square 
miles, but over people differing racially, socially and 
otherwise? It should also be borne in mind that 
the American Church has already departed from the 
ancient ecclesiastical law of geographical limitations, 
justifying her action on the ground of expediency and 
the needs of the times. She is not concerned so much 
with theories as with conditions. What has become 
of the old law of parochial authority and jurisdiction? 
Has it not been rendered obsolete by the frequent 
erection of Negro parishes with Negro Rectors in 
towns, or portions of towns, in which there is already 
in existence a white parish with its rector? And in a 
larger way, are there not two Archdeacons in this 
very Diocese, appointed by the same Diocesan, whose 
fields are geographically identical, but each one con- 
fining his labors to the people of his own race? What 
the Negroes ask is that the General Convention shall 



Appendix II 279 

simply exercise on a scale larger than the parish or 
the archdeaconry, the privilege which the Diocese or 
its Ecclesiastical Authority is exercising within its. 
limits. If we have Negro parishes operating within 
white parishes, and Negro convocations overlapping 
white convocations or Dioceses, does it seem a hard 
and radical thing to erect a Missionary Jurisdiction 
out of a Negro convocation, or several Negro convo- 
cations, and to place over such a Negro Bishop? If it 
is expedient to make some adaptation of the parish 
idea and to ordain Negro Priests for Negro congre- 
gations — if it be further expedient to make some 
adaptation of the archdeaconry idea, and to appoint 
Negro Archdeacons for Negro Convocations (as now 
obtains in four Southern dioceses) — is it any the less 
expedient or logical to so adapt the Episcopate idea* 
by consecrating Negro Missionary Bishops for Mis- 
sionary Jurisdictions made up of Negro Parishes or 
Convocations? May not the General Convention do 
for the Negroes in the Church at large what the 
Bishops do, as far as possible, in their Dioceses? 

The cry is being sent up, by Afro-Americans all 
through this Southland, for Bishops of their own 
race. Negro Methodists and Baptists point con- 
temptuously at us as "a black body with a white 
head." We dare not hope to bring into our member- 
ship any large number of self-respecting, intelligent 
,Negroes of the South, who are now in other religious 
bodies, until we can supply them with Bishops of their 
own race who will fully sympathize with their condi- 
tion, who will fully share all their weals and their 



280 The Crucial Eace Question 

woes, who can enter their homes, enjoy their hospi- 
tality, ride with them in their separate railway 
coaches, and who can be loved and not simply 
respected by them. The white Bishop cannot meet 
these demands. When duty calls him to our churches, 
if he gives us a shake of the hand, as many do, this is 
all we can expect. Besides, Negro clergy need loving, 
fraternal, and social intercourse with their Bishop. 
The good Bishop of this Diocese may come to your 
homes and receive your hospitality ; you may be 
permitted to visit him and sit at the Episcopal board. 
I neither desire nor expect the same. Receiving many 
considerations of kindness, official and personal, from 
my present Bishop, nevertheless, my manly dignity, 
my self-respect, my whole nature — intellectual, social 
, and spiritual — yearns for a Bishop of my own race, 
who, besides giving me godly admonitions, will enter 
into my life as he alone can, and who is not prohibited 
from intermingling in every way, with me and the 
congregation committed to our charge. And this 
feeling I share with all my Negro brethren, within 
and without the Church. 

Personally I do not think the Church is ready and 
desirous to grant all that Colored Churchmen are 
asking for. On the Conference floor I have expressed 
this conviction, and advocated that we pray the Church 
to authorize the appointing of Suffragan Bishops, thus 
permitting those Southern Bishops who are kindly 
disposed and conscientiously concerned in doing all 
in their power to extend the blessings of this Church 
to their Negro people, to make convenient arrange- 
ment for special Episcopal oversight for them. Not 



Appendix II 281 

that I do not feel with my brethren that the Mission- 
ary Jurisdiction is the desired goal, but rather that I 
believe the chances are far greater for getting Negro 
Suffragan Bishops than Missionary Bishops. Diocesan 
Bishops are human after all and they will not readily 
acquiesce in the setting up of Jurisdictions in their 
Dioceses in the care of Missionary Bishops over whom 
they may have little or no control. Meanwhile, with 
the Suffragan arrangement, we could be marching on 
in the good work, awaiting the riper judgment of the 
Church to do right, as she has always done, even if 
slow in her changes. All this I showed to my brethren 
but I was argued down and told by those older than I 
in point of service, "We know what we want. Let 
us ask for that and nothing less, leaving it to the 
Church to give what she will." 

The General Convention has placed our Memorial 
in the hands of a Joint Commission, which is now at 
work securing data upon the subject of the Negro 
work and especially the mind of the Southern Bishops, 
in order that an exhaustive report may be made at 
Richmond in 1907. It is believed that several of our 
Councils and Conventions in the South will express 
themselves upon the question, as to whether Mission- 
ary Jurisdictions, Suffragan Bishops, or some other 
adjustment should be tried. 

I am heartily in accord with the conservative belief 
that the most feasible, as well as the least radical plan, 
and that least likely to arouse antagonism, is the Suf- 
fragan idea. I do not know the mind of this Council, 
but I can assure you gentlemen, that born in the 
Church of England, receiving Orders in the American 



282 The Crucial Eace Question 

Church — loyal and devoted to her standards, no legis- 
lation, nor lack of it, shall drive me from the Anglican 
Communion. Desirous, however, with my Negro 
brethren of the clergy and 20,000 of the laity, to make 
churchmen of a larger number of the millions of Afro- 
Americans who hold aloof from the Church because 
of the handicap placed upon us, I join in the prayer 
for better equipment along the line designated. We 
have race pride ; and it is that which prompts us to 
ask for Negro Bishops. We care naught about social 
equality. But we do want the full development of our 
inherent capacity for constructive leadership, in 
secular as well as ecclesiastical matters where our own 
race is concerned. Whatever the outcome may be, 
Negro Episcopalians will pray, hope and labor on, 
believing that "The Lord Reigneth," and that 

"Honor and shame from no condition rise ; 
Act well your part, — there all the honor lies." 

GEORGE ALEXANDER McGUIRE, 

Archdeacon of the Convocation of Arkansas. 



APPENDIX III. 

Extracts from a Letter of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Penick, 
Sometime Bishop of Cape Palmas, Africa. 

"Our mutual friend, I think, rather overstates the 
case. It is true that I have given the best years of my 
life to the study of the Negro problem. It is truly 'A 
RACE PROBLEM' with all that the word 'RACE' 
carries. This, Americans persist in ignoring. To treat 
it otherwise than a race problem, is to get confusion 
worse confounded every time it is attempted. 

"My dear Bishop, after fifty years studying the 
Negro, I have come to some very decided conclusions ; 
and the more I study and watch, the surer I feel that 
my conclusions are right; yet they are so far from 
what many people expect, that I have not made them 
public. 

"This, I say, is a 'Race' problem. It holds all that 
the word race means, and that is a lot more than 
people stop to think. It is far deeper than a 'color' 
matter. God made races and made them as different 
as ducks from chickens. To treat two races alike, 
produces confusion, as real and radical, as to treat 
dogs and cats alike, or apples and watermelons alike. 
In each race are wrapped forces leading it on, and 



284 The Crucial Race Question 

fitting it for the work that God has cut out for that 
race, and no other. Study Israel in Egypt. It was 
not neglect or impotency on God's part, that this race 
gradually gravitated from the court to the 'brick kiln.' 
Israel in Egypt's throne would have been an Israel- 
itish failure. Israel with the handicrafts of Egypt 
was not a failure and left the Egyptian ideal of civil- 
ization unmarred. God in the fullness of time sends 
to each race, the vision of its civilization; and no 
other race can see, understand, know and work it out. 
Stop and ponder this statement, for in it lies the 
secret to all this confusion and confounding, in which 
we are floundering, here and now. This alone can 
explain the vivid, intense, seemingly cruel resentment 
that flashes out everywhere, when the white man sees 
the Negro about to mar his ideal of Church, State or 
Society. And mar, he does, and will whenever allowed 
to approach and work on either, unguided. Don't you 
remember 'that the pillar of cloud and fire' was light 
to Israel, and darkness to the Egyptians? Even so 
and ever, must one race's ideal of civilization be fool- 
ishness to another race. Therefore, to allow an alien 
race to come up, and go to work on your ideal would 
produce about the same effect as if you allowed the 
man with his whitewash brush, to come up behind a 
gifted artist, intensely bending over his canvas, to 
fling upon it the vision thrilling his soul ; and to 
begin with his whitewash brush to help out the oil 
painting. Bishop, that is just what people of this 
country have ignorantly been clamoring that the Negro 
should be permitted to do. And the racial instinct, 
that will die for the preservation of its race ideal, has 



Appendix III 285 

fiamed and flashed with relentless fury every time it 
felt the whitewash brush reaching the canvas. 

"This accounts for many of the cruel strikings down, 
of many innocent and good Negroes, from place in 
government, or social circles. This, and this alone, 
can account for many seeming deeds of violence, 
done by men, who otherwise, were good law-abiding 
citizens. Now mark you, that it is not Egypt's ideal 
that is in danger from Israel's blind, bungling, but 
Israel's ideal, so long as he stays, and craves and 
reaches to help Egypt with its ideal. Moses as a 
Pharaoh, would have been a stupendous failure; as an 
Israelite, and leader for his people he was a great 
success. Israel's ideal unfolded 'on the mount.' 'Make 
all things according to the pattern shown thee in the 
mount.' Yes, use the skill and handicraft you learned 
in Egypt, but use your God-given patterns. As with 
Israel, even so with 'Ham.' If the Negro is ever to 
find the fullness and glory of his manhood and Negro- 
hood, it must be by finding his own pattern where God 
hands it to him ; and then using all the skill God has 
given him and all the truth that the white race may 
teach him — he must work out his own ideal. So long 
as he persists in trying to work on the white man's 
canvas he is going to have and give trouble, and make 
a failure. Do I make you see with me? Booker 
Washington, as Booker Washington, is a grand fellow 
—but Booker Washington, as George Washington 
would be an awful misfit and sad failure for both 
Booker and George. Why cannot we make people 
see this? It is certainly due to the Negro, to show 
him the peril of Pharaoh's palace, and also to turn his 



286 The Crucial Race Question 

face towards that mount where God waits to give him 
his ideal, even if it does seem to lie through a shipless, 
bridgeless sea ; and a great and terrible trackless wild- 
erness, waterless, and serpent-haunted, out there 
beyond the brick kiln. 

"Is there an ideal for him? Can he reach and work 
it out? Great, deep questions of life and death and 
glory. I believe there is. I say I believe, I dc 
know failure waits his continued meddling with the 
white man's ideal. I believe when God made him, He 
also made his ideal. God never makes a purposeless 
thing. I ever sought signs of his ideal ; and I think 
they are very many. I have in my possession, some 
eighty fables, or specimens of folk-lore, I got directly 
from the heathen Africa; and there are startling marks 
of ideals on many of them, ideals high and grand. God 
has reached the black man's mind, and flashed into it, 
blazes of immortality, and divinity. He lacks the spirit 
of God to brood over these and bring order, 'cosmos' 
out. You may catch traces of this in 'Uncle Remus' if 
you study deep enough. So I do believe in the Negro's 
future, because I believe in God's designs. 

"It is going to be hard with the theorists, when you 
begin to pluck their idols and long cherished hopes. 
But plucked they must be, or we go on deeper and 
deeper into the dense darkness ; and woful waste, and 
wrong to both races. You can't make a white man of 
a Negro ; he will be a miserable white man if you did, 
and a ruined Negro. We owe it to the Negroes to get 
this noble realization into them, and send them on to 
be their own great selves. One race can go to school 
to another; but the scholar must not try to turn the 



Appendix III 287 

teacher out, or run the school to suit himself. After 
school he must strike out homeward, and be a race. 
The other races need his racehood. 'One star differeth 
from another star in glory' but all the same, each star 
sends to every other star, a flood of light, all its own, 
and which the heavens cannot afford to lose. Other 
sheep I have which are not of this fold ; them I must 
also bring/ and that will be a greater and gladder fold, 
when he has the bringing, and the sheep feel that each 
is richer, because the others are there. 

"Now, Bishop, I do not know how all of this will 
strike you, nor what good it may do you in your 
present dilemma — which dilemma, we are all sharing. 
My own conclusions are very clear, and firm, and I 
presume final for this life, i. e. Give the Negro all we 
can give him of truth, and skill, and encouragement 
and hope, and point him to God's use for him. But as 
we love him, and are entrusted by God with the white 
man's ideal ; keep his hand off that ideal, and send him 
on to his own Horeb. I have written in haste, but T 
hope that I have made myself clear." 



"I have seen the Negroes in all their religions 
moods, in their most death-like trances, and in their 
wildest outbreaks of excitement. I have preached 
to them in town and city and on the plantations. 
I have been their pastor, have led their class and 
prayer meetings, conducted their love feasts, taught 
them the Catechism. I have married them, baptized 
their children, and buried their dead. In the real- 
ity of religion among them, I have the most entire 
confidence, nor can I ever doubt it while religion is a 
reality to me. Their notions may be in some things 
crude, their conceptions of truth realistic, sometimes 
to a painful, sometimes to a grotesque, degree. 
They may be more emotional than ethical. They 
may show many imperfections in their religious 
development ; nevertheless their religion is their 
most striking and important, their strongest and 
most formative characteristic. They are more 
remarkable here than anywhere else ; their religion 
has had more to do in shaping their better character 
in this country than any other influence ; it will 
most determine what they are to become in their 
future development." — The Rev. Atticus G. Hay- 
good. 



APPENDIX IV. 

Extracts from a Letter of a Minister of the Methodist 
Church, South. 

"At the close of the Civil War the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, had a colored membership of 
about 300,000 when we were owners and they were 
slaves; we had no trouble in adjusting ourselves to 
them or managing them. When they became free the 
Negro race churches, African Methodist Episcopal 
Church Bethel, and African Methodist Episcopal 
Church Zion, from the North rushed into the South 
and began to absorb our colored members. There 
was, however, a contingent of about 100,000 to 125,000 
who remained loyal to us; but they became restless 
and were ill at ease in the new relation of freedom. 
Many questions began to arise which were hard to 
answer. The same questions are now coming up for 
consideration in the Episcopal Church, and I believe 
that ultimately you will answer them much as we did. 
The greatest and strongest minds of the Church took 
up the study of these questions to find solutions that 
would be in accord with God's Word and the best 
interests of both races. 



290 The Crucial Eace Question 

i. "It was then as it is now, impossible to find com- 
petent white pastors for colored congregations. If 
they could have been found the Negroes would have 
thought that it would have been an invasion of their 
rights to place white men over them. It was impos- 
sible, is now, and ever will be to force them to worship 
together. 

2. "By the authority of our General Conference a 
convention of Negro preachers was called by our 
Bishops and they were organized into a separate and 
independent Church. They elected two Bishops, who 
were ordained by Bishops McLegion and Pierce. The 
'Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America' thus 
took its place among the Churches. We deeded to 
them Church buildings and school houses, which had 
been built for them. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, also established a school, the Paine 
Institute, in Augusta, Georgia, for the Church thus set 
forth, and appointed white teachers from our own 
ranks to run it. We still support and practically 
control it. 

'The Church thus set forth is absolutely independ- 
ent. We have no legal authority over them, any more 
than we have over the Protestant Episcopal, Presby- 
terian, or other Churches. They feel kindly towards 
us and look to us for help and advice; this we cheer- 
fully give. 

'You might with great interest and perhaps much 
light study the relation of the Negro contingent in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, North. They have 
about 200,000 colored members and separate congrega- 
tions and conferences. This is not satisfactory to any 



Appendix IV 291 

part of their communion. I happen to know some of 
their secrets, (a) The Negroes are asking, demanding 
a Bishop of their race, who shall be allowed to preside 
with equal rights in white Conferences, (b) The 
whites are divided into three factions; (i) a faction 
saying, yes, this is right, (2) another saying, elect a 
Negro Bishop but confine him to his own race, (3) a 
third saying, no, no Negro for Bishop. Their difficul- 
ties will increase." 



"I am free to say that unless this Church is pre- 
pared to treat its Negro members with exactly the 
same consideration that other members receive, with 
the same brotherhood and fellowship, the same 
encouragement to aspiration, the same privileges, 
similarly trained priests and similar preferment for 
them, then I should a great deal rather see them 
set aside than to see a continuation of present 
injustice. All I ask is that when you do this you 
do it with an open and honest statement of the real 
reasons and not with statements veiled by any 
hypocritical excuse." — "The Negro In the South," 
by Prof. DuBois, page 189-190. 



APPENDIX V. 

A Letter from the Rev. George Williamson Smith, D. D., 
Ex-President of Trinity College, to the Rt. Rev. Dr. 
Satterlee, Bishop of Washington, a copy of which 
President Smith kindly sent the Author and upon 
request gave his consent to this publication of it 

THE WYOMING, 
Washington, D. C, May 22, 1907. 

My Dear Bishop : 

In compliance with your request made in the brief 
conversation we had last Wednesday morning, I 
venture to write more fully than I at first intended, 
what seems to me to be practicable in the way of a 
tentative effort to meet the situation in regard to 
work among the Negroes. Pardon me for prefacing 
the proposition with some considerations which seem 
to me worthy of attention in deciding the matter. 

As a Historic Church we may profitably study the 
manner in which most questions which arise today 
have been treated in the past. In some form or 
another most all of them have been discussed and acted 
upon. The race question was the first which troubled 
the Church. The antipathy between Jew ("adversum 



294 The Crucial Kace Question 

omnes alios hostile odium") and Gentile was pro- 
nounced, and the effort to reconcile in one Church, 
or Ecclesia, two races which were antipathetic in 
every point, was the occasion of the first Church 
Council in Jerusalem. How transitory the effect was 
is apparent when we find that six years afterwards St. 
Peter and St. Barnabas withdrew from the Gentile 
Christians in Antioch and consorted with the Jewish 
Christians only. (Gal. n, 12, 13.) On this point we 
have a curious statement in Bingham, that "many 
learned persons" think that "in the apostolic age" 
there were two Bishops in many cities, one of the 
Jews and another of the Gentiles. Thus they think it 
was at Antioch, where Euodius and Ignatius are 
said to be Bishops ordained by the Apostles ; as also 
Linus and Clemens at Rome, the one ordained by St. 
F'eter, Bishop of the Jews, and the other by St. Paul, 
Bishop of the Gentiles. Epiphanius seems to have 
been of this opinion." I think this may enable us to 
reconcile the discrepancy between Tertullian who 
names Clemens as the immediate successor of the 
Apostles, and Eusebius, who names Linus and Anec- 
letus before Clemens. By the early withdrawal of 
the Jews on their renunciation of Christianity the order 
of Jewish Bishops lapsed, and their brief existence as 
a separate congregation, or a part of the Church, was 
ignored by Tertullian. 

The different sorts of Bishops in the early ages of 
the Church testify to the great flexibility of the organi- 
zation which enabled it to meet every exigency. In 
reconciling an organized heretical Church we some- 
times find the orthodox recognizing and continuing 



Appendix V 295 

the Bishops of the reconciled Church and thus per- 
mitting two Bishops for a time in one city. When- 
ever a new work was to be done they seem to have 
at once appointed a Bishop, or Bishops, to do it. We 
meet a wondrous variety, and many sorts of Bishops ; 
Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, several kinds 
of Autokephalae, Coadjutors and Chorepiscopi. 
These last, as additional hands to the Metropolitan, or 
[Other Bishop, whose assistants they were, seem to have 
been very numerous. There were seventy or more under 
the Bishop of Rome. The ease with which Bishops 
were created appears from the statements of the Don- 
atist Bishops that new Bishops were created by the 
Orthodox to oppose them in their own seats, which 
were in Orthodox Dioceses already existing. And as 
pertinent to the matter before us Cyril of Scythopolis 
takes notice of "a plantation of Saracens under the 
Roman Government in Palestine, over whom Peter, 
a converted Saracen, who had been before their cap- 
tain, was made the first Bishop by Juvenal, Bishop 
of Jerusalem." Now, we are to observe, that these 
Saracens were divided into little nations and each had 
their regulus, or petty prince; so they each seem to 
have had their proper Bishop, one to a nation, and no 
more. Juvenal, then, finding this race in his juris- 
diction, appointed one of their own number to be 
their Bishop. "Nation" in the Levant means, "Race." 

I have not my books by me and therefore cannot 
cite more than the above specific example of a Suffra- 
gan, or coadjutor, appointed for a particular race or 
language ; but we constantly meet general statements 
about Bishops appointed for the races, such as the 



296 The Crucial Race Question 

Goths, who had come into the Empire. Bishops were 
so freely appointed that such appointments would fall 
naturally into the current of the Church's activity. 
Of the eighteen hundred Bishops who administered 
the religious affairs of, probably, one-fifteenth, or one- 
twentieth of the population of the Empire, in 312 A. 
D., in which there were many antagonistic races, it 
seems not impossible that others besides that one 
specified above, were Bishops of particular races. The 
national Churches, English, Gallican, Spanish, etc., are 
Race Churches which grew strong as the various racial 
elements coalesced and formed one new race. 

It is the ideal, that God having "made of one blood 
all nations," separated by characteristics often, should 
unite them in his Church ; but it has been done only 
partially, according to our own way of regarding it. 
We are aiming at a tactual or physical rather than 
a spiritual union. Much has been done by war, com- 
merce, emigration, etc., to modify race differences, or 
merge the races into one. Now, that the Gospel may 
be extended to people it must be sent to them and 
presented in such form as will meet their needs. Then 
through organized Churches of their own the different 
races become incorporated into the one Great Body 
of Christ, which includes, but does not destroy the 
races, nor abolish their characteristics. St. Paul's 
figure of the body and its many members may, I 
think, apply here. The Greeks and Latins organized 
race Churches at the beginning. Each was the expres- 
sion of the difference as well as the likeness. In Con- 
stantine's day the division was marked. Of the eigh 
teen hundred Bishops, one thousand were reckoned 



Appendix V 297 

Greeks and eight hundred Latins. St. Paul declared 
that Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, etc., were not distinc- 
tions in the Church. But outside of the Church the 
distinction continued. The Church could embrace 
them all as Christians, but could not change their 
color nor their characteristics by which they were fit- 
ted for their special purposes by their Creator. • It 
is by and through these that the "bounds of their habi- 
tation" — which are not simply geographical boundaries 
— are "appointed" as the sphere of their life and activ- 
ity. No inhabitants of God's earth should be excluded 
from His Grace because of mutually repellant or inhar- 
monious endowments. In the Great Whole of God's 
purpose there is a place and need for every endowment 
and for the natural effect of every characteristic. No 
man has chosen who or what he shall be physically, 
nor can he change his race. Men may be in the same 
Church without being in the same congregation. There 
is a natural line of demarcation between our race and 
others, as there exists a line of demarcation between 
them. Perhaps the time will come when tactual asso- 
ciation in our Churches will not be objected to by 
either Negroes or Whites ; but it is not so now in the 
Southern States, nor in the Northern, where Negroes 
have Churches of their own — generally by their own 
choice. If our Church is what we claim it to be it must 
be able to extend its beneficent work in circumstances 
actually existing, to the ten millions of Negroes whom 
God's providence has placed, or permitted to be placed 
in the United States. 

The problem, then, is not altogether new. The early 
disciples preached the Gospel freely to all, irrespective 



298 The Crucial Race Question 

of national or natural differences. At once race feel- 
ing, or prejudice, or instinct, as well as other influences 
barred the way to a practical realization of the ideal 
Church, as we read in the sixth Chapter of Acts, where 
special officers were appointed for Race Service. Ever 
since then the Church has been struggling with human 
nature to realize its ideal of one Harmonious Bodv — 
in which God's will shall be done on earth as it is in 
Heaven — and has alwavs failed; and it must perforce 
be content to spread the Gospel and do God's work in 
the degree and manner in which it is feasible. It 
cannot realize its ideal more than partially. The Race 
differences have persisted, especially in the East, and 
there they have worked out so that each race, as a 
rule, has its own organized Church with its own 
Bishops, Ritual and Canons. Often these Churches 
differ in their Theology, although having the common 
creeds, and are not in Communion with each other, 
just as the Protestant Churches are not, in this coun- 
try. Then certain Churches such as Armenian, Syrian, 
Abyssinian and Koptic are in Communion with each 
other and yet continue their separate organizations in 
the same city. If some deprecate the division as con- 
trary to the ideal the race instinct, tradition and other 
influences perpetuate it. No individual Christian can 
do more than approximate to the measure of Christ, 
and shall we demand that the ideal of the Church be 
realized, or refuse to act at all? The Roman Cath- 
olic Church does not hesitate to give the Greek or 
Uniat Church what meets the race need of the Greeks, 
and what she would not allow the Gallican. Our 
papers tell us that the Poles in America are to be given 



Appendix V 299 

Bishops of their own, by the Pope, to satisfy the 
demands of their religious life — as Poles. 

In the above statement about Race Churches in 
the far East I speak from information given me on 
the spot, and I think it is correct. It is stated because 
it seems to throw light on a vexed question and to 
indicate what can be done in the direction already 
taken by the Church in the past. We are in the 
position of the Primitive Church, free to do whatever 
the exigency of the case calls for. The rigidity of 
organization and administration which was imposed 
by union with the State is no longer necessary. Per- 
haps some of our limitations were not originally self- 
imposed but State-imposed for political reasons. We 
have inherited them but they may be no necessary part 
of Church organization or administration. If they are 
in the way of our doing the work for which the Church 
was founded it might be well to modify or remove 
them. 

We have recognized the propriety of consecrating 
Negro Bishops for Missionary work in Liberia and 
Hayti. Once for a brief period we had a Bishop for the 
Indian race. We look forward to the formation of 
"Native Churches" in China and Japan. If our Negroes 
occupied a separate territory we would look forward 
to the establishment of a Negro Church in that terri- 
tory. But Episcopal Jurisdiction is primarily spiritual 
and not geographical, and territorial limits are not 
essential to the exercise of the Episcopal office. The 
Negro is practically as much separated from the white 
Churches as if he were in a different geographical 



300 The Crucial Race Question 

area, and this for reasons which neither he nor white 
people can ignore or overcome. 

Any movement towards a separate church organiza- 
tion for Negroes is resisted on the ground that "it will 
divide the Church." The objection does not seem 
to me conclusive, since an ineradicable "division" 
already exists between the races themselves and I 
know of no movement which aims to unite them in 
one association. Still it is best to respect opinions and 
try to work together for the one end we all have 

in view 

Faithfully yours, 

GEORGE WILLIAMSON SMITH 
The Bishop of Washington. 



The Crucial Race Question 



INDEX 



INDEX 



ABOLITIONISTS, their view on 
miscegenation, 99. 

Absurdity of consecrating only 
one Negro Bishop, 162. 

Address, Episcopal, to Arkansas 
Diocesan Council of 1906, 253. 

Adultery, inter-racial, an exag- 
gerated crime, 134. 

Adverse Criticism of Anglo-Amer- 
ican Priest stated and answer- 
ed, 55 ; Criticisms of statisti- 
cians stated and answered, 15. 
of Church Papers stated and 
answered, 67. 

Africa. Bishop of. difficulty ex- 
perienced in providing hospital- 
ity for. 101 : Negro should 
ultimately return to. 265 : 
specimens of folklore showing 
ideals of. 286. 

African Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Bethel, its origin, 177, 
first Bishop. Allen, 177. statis- 
tics, 179 : Zion. its origin. 177. 
first Bishop. Variek, 177, sta- 
tistics, 179. 

African Methodist Churches drew 
away Negro communicants 
from white Churches after the 
war, 184. 289. 

African proverb concerning mon- 
grels, 110. 

Afro- American. The. can be saved 
only by the bridging of the 
gulf, xii ; is degenerating, xii : 
salvation of, dependent upon 
the complete drawing of the 
Color-Line, xxv ; besetting sins 
of, 34 : not homogeneous with 
the Anglo-American. 70 : is be- 
ing gradually eliminated from 
politics. Ill ; nothing in politics 
for. but a snare and a delusion. 
112 ; cannot claim the Fifteenth 
Amendment as a Magna Charta. 
113: is not the equal of the 
Anglo-American in artificial 
acquisitions. 123 : an exodus 
necessary for. that he may 
work out his destiny. 151. 265 : 
is not excluded from the 
Church even though the Color- 
Line is drawn in her legislative 
assemblies, 154 ; will never 



govern himself politically in 
this country, 158 ; has begun at 
the wrong end of self-govern- 
ment. 158 ; is not on the same 
political footing with the 
Anglo-American. 235 ; has no 
place in our political or eccle- 
siastical assemblies, 235 ; would 
be benefited by racial Episco- 
pate and the Prayer Book, 
257 : will need fifteen or twen- 
ty bishops before the close of 
the century. 258 : a native 
Episcopate should be given to, 
259. 

Afro- American Churchmen, will 
not have self-government with 
Missionary Bishops, 158 : 
should give up the idea of Mis- 
sionary or Suffragan Bishops, 
160 : will benefit only by an 
autonomous episcopate. 160 ; 
have just cause to complain. 
201 : never have been con- 
snicuous in Diocesan or General 
Conventions, 236. 

Afro-American Episcopal Church, 
Negroes in autonomous 
Churches are rejoiced to know 
that the author advocates an, 
177 ; would receive accessions 
from Negro Methodists. 178 : 
would be in communion with 
the whole Anglican Commu- 
nion. 237. 

Afro-American Episcopate. the 
Bishop Coadjutor of New York 
alone could raise the funds 
for the support of the, 100: 
could be easily supported by 
the richest Church on earth. 
162 : the Bishop of West Texas 
speaks in justification of an. 
203 : would be represented in 
the Pan-Anerlican Conference of 
Bishops. 227. 

Afro-American Moses, An. is 
needed. 119. 

Alabama. The Bishon of, contends 
that Negroes should not be ad- 
mitted to the ministry until 
their race is further develooed, 
81. and maintains that a white 
ministrv is necessary for Col- 
ored People. 



304 



The Crucial Race Question 



Allen, the first Bishop of the A. 
M. E. Church, Bethel, 177. 

Amalgamation, of races thwarts 
God's plan, 12 ; of white and 
black a sin of blackest dye, 
135. 

American Christianity needs more 
of practicalism and less of 
idealism, 234. 

American Church, The, what it 
has accomplished among the 
Negroes, 179 ; has departed 
from the law of geographical 
limitations, 278. 

American Episcopate, The, has 
been cramped and "cornered," 
216 ; General Convention should 
share it with all races and 
sects, 217. 

American Race Froblein, The, a 
sad reality, 20 ; how the Epis- 
copal Church can best aid in 
the solution of, 20. 

Anglican Communion, The, has 
failed to expand its Episcopate, 
216 ; is divided into National 
Churches along geographical 
lines, 269. 

Anglo-American, The, must draw 
the Social Color-Line for his 
own safety, 11 ; and the Afro- 
American are without racial 
affinity, 70 ; will not aid the 
Afro-American up to the point 
of equality, 124 ; is not bound 
to bring the Afro-American un- 
der the sway of our Episco- 
pate, 156. 

Anglo-American Church, true 
mission of the, to the Afro- 
American, 67 ; the General Con- 
vention is the political arena 
of the, 159. 

Anglo-American Churchmen, 
would not have made an Ap- 
peal like that of Afro-Amer- 
ican Churchmen, 114 ; should 
create and maintain an autono- 
mous Episcopate for Afro- 
Amreicans, 160. 

Anglo-American Priest, an, his 
adverse criticism stated and an- 
swered, 55 ; bases his objection 
to Negro Bishops on Negro 
immorality, 55. 

Anglo-Saxon. The, is jealous of 
his blood, 105 : refused to amal- 
gamate with the Indian, 106. 

Antebellum conditions between the 
races in the Church undesir- 
able, 79. 



Antipathy between Jews and 
Gentiles in the early Church, 
294. 

Apostles, The, created a racial 
ministry to adjust differences, 
200 ; were not swayed by ideal- 
ism, 201 ; should be imitated in 
the granting of a special min- 
isty, 201 ; how they met the 
question of race prejudice, 203. 

Apostolic, Church, Negroes would 
not be cut off from the, be- 
cause of a Colored Episcopate, 
237 ; Diaconate, its powers, 
202. 

Appeal of Conference of Church 
Workers among Colored People 
for racial Bishops, the imme- 
diate occasion for the writing 
of this book, xxv ; why made, 
xxv ; grew out of necessity, 
275 ; important work on, by the 
Pennsylvania Diocesan Conven- 
tion. 74 ; shows Negro's defect 
in the spirit of independence ; 
wherein justifiable, 136 ; where- 
in unjustifiable, xxvi, 136 ; 
must be responded to favorably 
to check further decimation, 
189 ; if refused on the ground 
of overlapping would show in- 
consistency, 200 ; many in Gen- 
eral Convention will decline to 
grant the, 254 ; Archdeacon 
McGuire on the, 245, 273. 

Archdeacon, Colored, has been 
placed over the Negro work in 
Georgia, 186 ; preferable to 
Suffragan Bishop, 263. 

Archdeacon McGuire. Report of 
his work to 1907 Diocesan 
Council of Arkansas, 172 ; to 
1906 Diocesan Council, 245 ; 
his reputation and ability, 245 ; 
an unusual Negro, 248 : re- 
ceives an ovation at the Coun- 
cil of 1906, 248 ; effect upon 
him of this ovation. 248. 

Archdeacon's Looking Glass, The, 
245. 

Archdeacons among Colored Peo- 
ple, the work of white and col- 
ored compared, 185. 

Archdeaconry for Negroes not as 
successful as a racial Episco- 
pate would be, 18S. 

Arkansas, school tax in, 48 ; ma- 
terial progress of Negroes in. 
131 : conditions of missionary 
work in, when the author be- 
came its Bishop, 171 : Colored 
work in, compared with that in 
Georgia, 187, and that in North 



Index 



305 



Carolina, 189 ; Colored work 

in. would have been still more 

successful with a Negro Bishop, 
188, 271. 

Arkansas Diocesan Council, of 
1906, its resolutions with ref- 
erence to an autonomous Afro- 
American Church, xi ; of 1905, 
excluded Colored Churchmen, 
245 ; of 1906, a significant oc- 
currence at, 245, and the Epis- 
copal Address to, 253. 

Arkansas, Diocese of, has drawn 
the religious Color-Line most 
completely, 146 ; could not be 
excluded from the General 
Convention because of such 
action, 147 ; its action con- 
demned by the Conference of 
Church Workers among Col- 
ored Teople, 148 ; memorable 
event in the history of, 245. 

Arkansas Plan, The, a history of 
Color-Line drawing, xxii ; the 
two-fold task of the opponents 
of, xxv ; founded upon the rock 
of everlasting fcruth, xxvii ; chief 
objection of Negroes and North- 
ern whites to, 3 ; objected to, 
on the ground that it is irre- 
concilable with the law of 
Christian charity, 3 ; is built 
upon the hope of a racial 
Episcopate, 81 ; how influenced 
by Cora and her doll, 141 ; 
has been criticised on constitu- 
tional grounds, 146 ; is not un- 
constitutional, 148 ; change of 
feeling among Colored Church- 
men towards, 149 ; designed to 
meet the approval of Negro 
Christians, 150 ; is not a denial 
of the three fundamental doc- 
trines, 153 ; acceptable to both 
white and colored Churchmen 
in that Diocese. 174 ; urged up- 
on Negro Churchmen by auton- 
omous Negro Churches. 177 ; 
objection of the Catholic to, 
199 ; objection of the Idealist 
to, 227 ; overlapping objection 
to, 199, 227 ; the argument of 
expediency in favor of, 233 ; 
objection of the Southerner to, 
239 : limitations of, 263 ; local 
results of, 270. 

Arguments. The. supporting the 
thesis of this book, 16. 

Aryan, The, his strong race preju- 
dice, 14 : race, Anglo-Saxon 
branch of, is jealous of its 
blood, 105 ; will not permit the 
Negro to share in the govern- 
ment of this country, 157. 



Athenian citizenship, 120. 

Augustine's jurisdiction in Eng- 
land explained, 210. 

Aunt Susanna, the story of, 93. 

Author, The, a Southernized 
Northerner, xxvii ; is free from 
race hatred, 23 ; gathered much 
of the material in this book 
from observation, 44. 

Authorship of "The Church for 
Americans," xxvii. 

Autonomous, Episcopate, should 
be asked for by A fro- American 
Churchmen at their next Con- 
ference, 160, will alone bring 
good results, 160, and should 
be created and maintained by 
the Anglo-American Church, 
160; Churches for Negroes a 
necessity, xii, 181 ; Church in- 
sures the best development of 
the work, xiii, would satisfy 
the needs of Colored Church- 
men, 88, because it is the only 
kind that has a considerable 
hold on the Negro, 182 ; Negro 
Churches, secret of their suc- 
cess, 182, statistics showing 
their comparative strength, 
182, causes of their separation 
from the whites, 177. what 
they have accomplished, 177, 
urge Negro Churchmen to ac- 
cept the Arkansas Plan, 179 ; 
Afro-American Catholic Church 
should be organized by the Gen- 
eral Convention of 1907, 266, 
would not deprive Colored 
Churchmen of support, 270, 
would capture the Colored Peo- 
ple of Arkansas, 271. 

Autonomy, in practical operation 
in Arkansas, 80 ; affords unique 
opportunity to the Afro-Amer- 
ican for political self-govern- 
ment, 157. 



BAPTIST and Methodists, white, 
do more for their Colored 
brethren than Churchmen, 80. 

Besetting sins of the Negro, 34. 

Birthrate of the Negro decreasing, 
34. 

Bishops, many in the North and 
South opposed to a Negro Epis- 
copate. 268 ; two in a city in 
early times. 294, variety of, 
294 ; two Negro, ordained by 
the M. E. Church, South, 290. 

Black Belt defined by Prof. Wil- 
cox. 39. 



306 



The Crucial Eace Question 



Black Mammy, The story of a, 
93. 

Blood, Anglo-Saxon jealous of 
his, 105 : white, introduced into 
black veins through unchastity, 
106 ; Southern Caucasian, is 
absolutely pure, 107 ; Negro, 
has not been introduced into 
white veins, 107. 

Boston, conditions in, point to 
segregation of the races, 100 ; 
not eager to entertain distin- 
guished Negroes, 101 ; has sur- 
rendered to New York as the 
city of human equality, 102. 

Bowers. The Hon. E. J., on 
Negro criminality, 42. 

Brotherhood of Man. not denied 
by the Arkansas Plan, 153 ; a 
doctrine held by the true Chris- 
tian, 154. 

Brown, Mrs., plans to give Cora 
a Christmas doll, 141. 

Browne, Professor Hugh M., on 
the industrial deterioration of 
the Negro, 38. 

Bryce, James, quoted on Mis- 
cegenation, 108. 

Buoyancy of the Negro is pass- 
ing, 42. 

CAESAR of statistics, appeal 
made to by Northerners, 27. 

Canon, Proposed, by Colored 
Church Workers, adopted after 
much deliberation and discus- 
sion, 275. 

Canonist, a great Northern, de- 
clared that Arkansas could not 
be excluded from the General 
Convention because of the 
drawing f the Color-Line, 148. 

Cape Palmas. Missionary Juris- 
diction of, has made great 
progress under Bishop Fergu- 
son, 241. 

Carthage, Council of. agreement 
between Catholic and Donatist 
Bishops at, 209. 

Caste system in India, not anala- 
gous to racial antipathy in the 
United States, 69. 

Catholic, what is. according to 
the Vincentian rule, 203 ; no 
congregation in the South so, 
as to include Negroes. 268 : ob- 
jection of the, to the' Arkansas 
Plan, 199 ; his objection ir- 
reconcilable with the Acts of 
the Apostles, 207 : Christians 
believe the Episcopate divine. 



232 ; Idealists should learn 
wisdom from the failure of Re- 
publican idealists ; idealism ac- 
corded Negro Churchmen rights 
which they never have enjoyed, 
236 ; usage would not be vio- 
lated by an Afro-American 
Episcopate, 203 : Unity, the 
Communion of Saints is the 
sufficient bond of, 227 ; Unity 
does not require representation 
in legislative assemblies, 228. 

Catholic. The, Church, non-repre- 
sentation in legislative assem- 
blies not necessarily severance 
from, 227, Colored people, mem- 
bers of, even though excluded 
from Diocesan Conventions, 
236, and can still be while hav- 
ing their own General Conven- 
tion. 236, Christ and not the 
General Convention is the root 
of, 237 ; Creed., is not more of 
a revelation of the unity of 
nature than the scientific 
creed, xx ; Episcopate, its uni- 
versal tendency to overlap, 
214. 

Catholicity, of the Church not 
denied by the Arkansas Plan. 
153 ; and Humanity represent 
parallel ideas of illimitability, 
154 : the only limit which it 
allows. 154 : of the Church ex- 
plained, 266 : of National 
Churches or Diocese does not 
exist, 268. 

Catholics, need not fear schism 
by the creation of an autono- 
mous Negro Episcopate, 88 ; 
sometimes forget history, 236. 

Caucasian ministry, a, cannot 
permanently save India, 71. 

Caucasians, Southern and not a 
few Northern, consider eccle- 
siastical Color-Line drawing 
right, xix : in the United States 
have drawn the social Color- 
Line, xxiii: will commit a 
great wrong if the Color-Line is 
not drawn in the General Con- 
vention, xxiii : and Hindoos are 
kindred peoples, 70. 

Causes which led to the separa- 
tion of Negro and white Metho- 
dists, 177. 

Census Bureau, statistics of, of- 
fered in refutation of the 
charge of Negro degeneration, 
19 ; showing the Negro en- 
gaged in civilized emplovments, 
29 ; Bulletin No. 8 of the, on 
Negroes in the United States, 
32. 



Index 



30/ 



Charge of degeneration brought 
aaginst the Negro a serious 
one, 17 ; considered unjust, 20. 

Chief objection of Negroes and 
Northern whites to the Ar- 
kansas Plan, 3. 

Chinese, The, must be given their 
own Episcopate, 259. 

Christ and not the General Con- 
vention, the root of the Cath- 
olic Church, 237. 

Christian, Charity, objectors say 
that the Arkansas Plan is op- 
posed to the law of, 3 ; Wo- 
man's letter conveying her 
sense of outrage on the draw- 
ing of the Color-Line in the 
Church, 4 ; Baptism the limit 
of catholicity, 154 ; the true, 
holds the doctrines of the Fath- 
erhood of God and the Broth- 
erhood of Man, 154 ; Unity ideal- 
istic form of, advocated by the 
Episcopal Church, 228. 

Christians, The early, show the 
opportunity of the Negro in 
the political realm of religion, 
158. 

Christianity will not take deep 
root among the Hindoos with 
a Caucasian ministry, 71. 

Church for Americans, The, 
rumor that Bishop Brown was 
not the real author of the work 
entitled, xxvii. 

Church, the visible, consists of 
branches, 154, and is more or 
less sectarian, 154 ; the spirit- 
ual porton of the, is Catholic, 
154 ; the Catholic, includes all 
baptized persons, 154, and has 
humanity for its boundaries, 
154 ; the, is both a spiritual 
and political institution, 154 ; 
The, and The Negro, editorials 
of the late Dr. Fulton on, 73 ; 
Papers, adverse criticisms of 
the, stated and answered, 67 ; 
work among Negroes began in 
1619 ; 183 ; Reunion, the closed 
pulpit the greatest stumbling- 
block to, 219 ; Unity, the his- 
torical Episcopate cannot be 
conceded even for the cause of, 
232. 

Church of England, The, gave us 
an independent Episcopate, 
264 ; influence of, upon the 
British Empire, 266. 

Church Standard, The, Editor of, 
is favorable to racial Bishops, 
72 ; is opposed to autonomy, 



72 ; occupies practically the 
same ground as the IMitor of 
the Churchman, 72 ; his argu- 
ments analyzed, 75. 

Churchman, The. a writer in, on 
Negro deterioration, 24 ; the 
Editor of, is opposed to racial 
bishops, 69 ; he undervalues 
the testimony of Epiphanius, 
206. 

Churchmen, North and South, de- 
sire to rid their parishes and 
conventions of the Colored con- 
stituency, 165. 

Circular Letter, The, of Colored 
Clergy relative to the Colored 
work in Arkansas, 149. 

Citizenship, Athenian, 120, Spar- 
tan, 120. 

Civil, Affairs, the Negro must be 
governed by the white man in, 
157 ; why the Negro should be 
excluded from, 157. 

Civil War, The, thousands of 
Negro Churchmen before, 183. 

Civilization, a development, xx ; 
the most distinguished charac- 
teristic of man, xx ; its com- 
plexity demands Color-Line 
drawing, xxi ; its three essen- 
tial and inseparable parts, xxi ; 
will not permit the Negro to 
compete with the white man, 
126. 

Clement and Linus contemporary 
Bishops of Rome, 206. 

Cleveland, ex-President, famous 
aphorism of, 229. 

Closed pulpit, The, is the great- 
est stumbling block to Church 
reunion, 219. 

Color, The, of Cora's doll an em- 
barrassing one. 142. 

Color-Line, The, must be drawn 
around all realms, xii. 132 ; 
must be drawn around the Gen- 
eral Convention, xiii ; many 
disagree with the author on 
drawing it civilly, socially, and 
ecclesiastically, xviii ; right- 
eousness of, xix ; rendered nec- 
essary by our complex civiliza- 
tion, xxi ; has been drawn so- 
cially by Caucasians in the 
United States, xxiii ; failure to 
recognize it irreligious, xxiv ; 
drawn by God, xxiv, 269 ; the 
salvation of the Afro-Amer- 
ican dependent upon the com- 
plete drawing of, xxv ; is be- 
ing more distinctly drawn in 
the North than formerly, 63 ; 



308 



The Crucial Eace Question 



must be recognized to bridge 
tbe chasm between the races, 
95 ; consequences of failure to 
recognize, 95 ; disregard of, 
the root of all our race diffi- 
culties, 98 ; cannot be obliter- 
ated by any agency, 105 ; is 
recognized in every Diocese 
having a considerable number 
of Colored Churchmen, 136 ; 
does not interrupt the Commu- 
nion of Saints, 155 ; what the 
plantation Negro said about, 
168 ; the General Convention 
should recognize that it is al- 
ready drawn, 168 ; a barrier to 
ecclesiastical unity, 269 ; in 
the Diocese of Georgia, 186 ; 
Drawing of, its philosophy, 
xviii, caused a falling away of 
the missionary benefactors of 
Arkansas, 3, what a Northern 
woman wrote about it, 4, does 
not exclude from membership 
in the Church, 154, beneficial 
results of, in Arkansas. 174, 
175, 248; would bring great re- 
sults in the Church at large, 
249, a question of pure ex- 
pediency, 270 ; Social, has al- 
ways been drawn, 99 ; Political, 
question of drawing it is an- 
swering itself, 111 ; Religious, 
is drawn, 146, most completely 
in Arkansas, 146. 

Colored Churchmen, reason for 
the Appeal of, xxv ; mistake in 
Appeal of, xxvi ; should take 
advantage of the political side 
of ecclesiastical autonomy, 
157 ; do not desire to thrust 
themselves on white Church- 
men, 166 ; what they think of 
the drawing of the ecclesias- 
tical Color-Line. 166; their 
manly feelings in their own 
Conferences, 166 ; claim that 
they practice the Golden Rule 
better than white Churchmen, 
167 ; not opposed to separate 
organization in the Church, 
167 ; do not believe that such 
separation is schism, 168 ; their 
real Episcopal needs, 258 ; need 
freedom in their work, 259 ; do 
not desire to create schism, 
178. 

Colored, Clergy conscious of their 
shortcomings, 59 ; Episcopal 
congregation, origin of the first, 
178 ; Sheep no longer know the 
voice of white shepherds, 184 ; 
Bishops would have checked 
the falling away of Colored 
Churchmen after the War. 188 : 



People, no white Bishop has 
been a success among, 188 ; 
Membership of the M. E. 
Church, South, falling away of, 
after the War, 190, 289, ab- 
sorbed by the A. M. E. 
Churches of the North, 289, a 
contingent of, remained loyal, 
289, organized into a separate 
Church, 290, relation of these 
to the Mother Church, 290 ; 
Membership of the M. E. 
Church, North, is agitating 
racial Bishops, 290 ; congrega- 
tions in Arkansas, members of 
the Catholic Church though ex- 
cluded from the Diocesan 
Council, 235 ; of the Northern 
Dioceses were not at first given 
membership in Diocesan Con- 
ventions. 236, impossible to find 
white Methodist pastors for 
them in the South after the 
War, 290 ; Archdeacon, appoint- 
ment of, and presentation of 
him to the Arkansas Diocesan 
Council, a bold step, 247 ; 
Episcopate, would not cut off 
Negro Churchmen from the 
Apostolic Church, 237 ; People, 
object to the drawing of Color- 
Line because it denies the law 
of Christian charity, 3, of Ar- 
kansas, dawning of a new era 
for them, 246 ; work in Arkan- 
sas before and after the draw- 
ing of the Color-Line, 174, in 
Georgia has prospered, 185, in 
Arkasas and Georgia compared, 
187, in Arkansas and North 
Carolina compared. 189, in 
Arkansas and South Carolina, 
185 ; Mission in Pine Bluff 
makes a liberal pledge, 130 ; 
Priests, three should be con- 
secrated as independent Bish- 
ops in 1907. 

Colored Methodist Episcopal 
Church, the Negro wing of 
Southern Methodism. 179 ; or- 
ganization of, 179, 290 ; Bish- 
ops consecrated for by South- 
ern Methodists, 179 ; receives 
aid and friendship from white 
Southern Methodists, 180 ; sta- 
tistics of, 180 ; opposed by 
schismatic Negro Methodists, 
180 ; good citizenship of the 
members of the, 190 ; relation 
of the, with the M. E. Church, 
South, 190. 

Communion of Saints, The. is the 
essence of unity, 90 ; not dis- 
turbed by the Color-Line, 155 ; 
in what is exists, 227. 



Index 



309 



Complete drawing of the Color- 
Line, salvation of the Afro- 
American depends upon the, 
xxv. 

Complexity, of Man, xx ; does not 
necessarily imply a lack of 
unity, xx ; of our civilization 
demands Color-Line drawing, 
xxi. 

Conference of Church Workers 
among Colored People, their 
change of face concerning sep- 
arate organizations, xvi ; their 
protest against the action of 
the Diocese of Arkansas, 148 ; 
leaders of the, have changed 
their mind about the Arkansas 
Plan, 149 ; their Memorial to 
the General Convention, 253. 

Conquest, a, or an Exodus, a pre- 
requisite for self-government, 77, 

Consecration, date of the. of the 
Bishop of Arkansas, 25. 

Convocation, Colored, of Arkan- 
sas, its creation, 96 ; rights and 
privileges of, 146 ; change of 
feeling towards it among Col- 
ored Churchmen, 149 ; plans 
for extension of, 176 ; may pro- 
vide for its independence, 274 ; 
one exists in Georgia under the 
Title of "The Georgia Council 
of Colored Churchmen," 186. 

Cora and her white doll, 141 ; the 
action to which it led, 143. 

Country Bishops, consecrated by 
the successors of the Apostles, 
205 ; their relation to City 
Bishops, 205 ; how they would 
work today, 205. 

Coxe, Bishop, recommended a 
Bishop for every city of 25,000 
inhabitants, 216. 

Creed, the ecumenical, requires 
only the Communion of Saints 
as the bond of unity, 227. 

Criminality of Negroes North and 
South compared, 32. 

Criticisms, adverse, of statisti- 
cians answered, 15, of an An- 
glo-American Priest, 55, of the 
Church Papers, 67. 

Crowther, Bishop, the first black, 
of the English Church meas- 
ured up morally, 60. 

Crucial Question of the Church, 
the. is the work among the 
Colored People, 254. 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 
organizes the Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church (Colored) for 



its Negro Members, 181 ; Col- 
ored, origin of, 181, statistics 
of, 181, comparison of its suc- 
cess with our work for the 
Negroes, 181. 

Cursed Prejudice, the Southern- 
ized Northerner is supposed to 



have 
xxvii. 



it against the Negro, 



DEATH-RATE of the Negro in- 
creasing, 35. 

Declaration of Rights, American, 
113, English, 113. 

Deception in the Church on the 
Color-Line, 136. 

Defence of author to statistical 
criticisms concerning Negro 
degeneration, 30. 

Degeneration of the Afro-Amer- 
ican, xli ; many disagree with 
the " author on this subject, 
xviii ; denied by white North- 
erner, 16 ; statistical evidence 
asked for to sustain the charge 
of, 17 ; it is claimed that the 
statistics of the Census Bureau 
will refute charge of, 19 ; con- 
sidered an unjust charge, 20 ; 
a matter for experimental con- 
viction rather than statistical 
tabulation, 23 ; shown by a 
writer in The Churchman, 24 ; 
Archdeacon McGuire protests 
against the charge of, and sub- 
mits statistics, 27 ; so also 
Professor Tunnell, 29 ; is moral 
and physical, 31.; charge of, 
maintained, statistics notwith- 
standing, 31 ; Expert statisti- 
cians support charge of, 31 ; re- 
cent authorities on, 31 ; estab- 
lished by Professor Smith, 32 ; 
admitted by Professor Dubois. 

Democratic government, a, cannot 
be shared by two races, 122. 

Democrats, Northern, hold out 
political equality to the Negro, 
112. 

Diaconate, Apostolic, its powers, 
202 ; rapid rise of, 205. 

Dialogue, an interesting, at a 
Northern dinner party, 6. 

Diocesan Episcopacy, as we un- 
derstand it was unknown in 
the early Church. 204 ; a post- 
Apostolic growth, 230 ; not 
supported by the New Testa- 
ment, 231 ; not of perpetual 
obligation, 232 ; was a develop- 
ment of expediency, 233. 



310 



The Crucial Race Question 



Disadvantage to Negro Mission- | 
ary Episcopate if barred out of 
some, Dioceses. 260. 

Disfranchisement of the Negro, 
Northerners not ready for, 
xxvi. 

Distinctions, between races can- 
not be ignored in the Church, 
151 ; created by God, 151 ; if 
ignored will tend to defeat 
God's Plans, 152. 

Diversity in unity, the Divine 
scheme, 155 ; a fundamental 
fact which the Church is los- 
ing sight of, 155. 

Divine condemnation of our meth- 
ods seen in the failure of our 
Colored work, 234. 

Divisions of government needed 
in the ecclesiastical world, 155 ; 
do not destroy unity of human- 
ity or the catholicity of the 
Church, 155. 

Dixie galleries, the author criti- 
cised for playing to, xxviii. 

Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society, aids the work in 
Hayti, 242. 

Drift towards a Negro Episco- 
pate, remarkable, xiv ; among 
Colored Churchmen, xv ; among 
Southern Bishops, xv ; phenom- 
enal, xvi ; how accounted for, 
xvi ; obstructors of, labor in 
vain, xvi. 

Dual Episcopate, in early times, 
206 ; explains two contempo- 
rary Bishops in Rome, 206 ; 
maintained by Milman, 207. 

DuBois, Professor, admits the De- 
generation of the Negro, 34 ; 
not the ideal Moses of his 
people, 119 ; and Dr. Washing- 
ton, a comparison of their 
ideals, 119 ; shows the tendency 
of the blacks even before the 
War to worship apart, 150 ; 
his undisguised frankness on 
intermarriage and absorption, 
196. 

Dudley, the late Bishop, on the 
Race Problem, 25. 



ECCLESIASTICAL, Color-Line, 
drawing of, considered wrong 
by Negroes and many Northern 
Caucasians, xviii, considered 
right by Southern Caucasians, 
xix, cannot be maintained ex- 
cept by justifying the social 
and civil Color-Lines, xxii ; 



Self-government, how the Ne- 
gro may have it and yet not 
share in his political self-gov- 
ernment, 121 ; Affairs, why 
Negro should govern himself in, 
157 ; World, needs division in 
government, 155 ; legislative 
■bodies, non-representation in, 
not necessarily severance from 
the Catholic Church, 237. 
Editor, of The Churchman, op- 
posed to Autonomy, 69 ; of The 
Church Standard favors racial 
Bishops, 72 ; both occupy prac- 
tically the same ground, 72 ; 
of the Church Standard, also 
opposes autonomy, 72, his ar- 
guments analyzed, 75. 

Editorials of The Church Stand- 
ard on the Negro Question 
strong, 73. 

Education, some Negroes losing 
interest in, 50 ; no cure for the 
ills of the Negro, 52. 

Eliot. President of Harvard, on 
racial lines, 100. 

Emancipation, Colored Church- 
men had no official representa- 
tion before the, 76 ; close rela- 
tionship between the races be- 
fore the, 76 ; presupposes and 
imposes self-government, 77 ; 
civil, of the Negro, carries with 
it, religous emancipation, 77. 

Epiphanius, as an ecclesiastical 
authority, 206. 

Episcopacy, Diocesan, as now ex- 
ists, unknown in the early 
Church, 204. 

Episcopal, Address to Arkansas 
Diocesan Council of 1906, 253 ; 
authority spiritual rather than 
geographical, 225, 299. 

Episcopal Church. The, how she 
may aid in solving the race 
problem, 20 ; her Negro prob- 
lem a two-fold one, 70 ; cannot 
assimilate her Negro converts, 
70 ; can do more for the Negro 
than any other body of Chris- 
tians, 75, 78 ; must amend her 
constitution to forestall draw- 
ing of the Color-Line, 147 ; is 
a white man's Church, 176 ; 
her view of Christian unity is 
idealistic. 228 ; is hedged In 
by traditionalism, 230 ; has 
lacked enthusiasm in her Negro 
work, 275. 

Episcopate, Negro, would be a 
dreadful mistake if Color-Line 
is not drawn, xiii, should not 
be denied on the ground that 



Index 



311 



the Negro is not the equal of 
the white man morally and in- 
tellectually. 58, if some form is 
not granted, the General Con- 
vention will make a mistake, 
254 ; Tribal, is as necessary as 
racial. G8 ; the Catholic, Chris- 
tians believe it to be divine, 
232 ; in what sense it is a 
trust, 220 ; the original was 
Jewish, 222 ; Jewish, was not 
intended to save the world, 
266 : Racial, intended by Our 
Lord, 266 ; Gentile, developed 
with the spread of Christian- 
ity, 267. 

Equality, social or political, 
means destruction for the Ne- 
gro, 118 ; social and political 
inseparable, 120. 

Exodus, or Conquest, a prequisite 
for self-government, 77 ; and 
would afford the Negro oppor- 
tunity for Self-government, 77 ; 
from the United States neces- 
sary for the Negroes if they 
are to become a great people, 
265. 

Expediency, as an argument for 
the Arkansas Plan. 233 ; often 
the will of Providence, 233 ; 
the principle on which the 
Church has solved her admin- 
istrative problems, 233 ; has 
caused departure from the 
theory of exclusive Episcopal 
jurisdiction, 233 ; indicates that 
racial Bishops are now neces- 
sary, 233. 

Expert Statisticians support 
charge of Negro degeneration, 

O-L • 



FAILURE, to recognize the Color- 
Line is irreligious, xxiv ; of 
the Anglican Church to multi- 
ply its Episcopate. 216 ; of 
Colored work is Divine condem- 
nation of present methods, 
234. 

Fatherhood of God. not denied by 
the Arkansas Plan, 153: a 
doctrine believed in by the 
true Christian, 154. 

Ferguson, Bishop, has measured 
up morally, 60 ; the preposter- 
ous request of Mississippi con- 
cerning, 163 : not adapted for 
Missionary work in the South, 
164 : has succeeded in Liberia, 
230 ; his success evidenced by 
the Mississippi request 241 : 
the Missionary Jurisdiction 



of Cape Palmas has made 
rapid progress under, 241. 

Fifteenth Amendment, The, is 
falsely supposed to be the 
Negro Magna Charta, 111 ; re- 
peal of, would work great good, 

111 ; the Republican Party 
cannot fulfill the pledges of, 

112 ; is not of the same char- 
acter as the English and Amer- 
ican Declarations of Rights, 
113. 115 ; if not repealed will 
ultimately bring a sanguinary 
struggle, 118 ; the Afro-Amer- 
ican errs when he takes ad- 
vantage of the privileges of, 
158. 

First Lesson, My, in the Amer- 
ican Race Problem, 93. 

Fitch. Mr., on the industrial de- 
terioration of the Negro, 38. 

Florida, School-tax in, 47 ; mate- 
rial progress of Negroes in, 
131. 

Fortune. Mr., on the industrial 
deterioration of the Negro, 
38. 

Freedom, required by Negroes in 
doing Church work, 259 ; to 
Negro Bishops would not be 
guaranteed by the Suffragan 
Episcopate, 263. 

Frissell, Dr.. on the Negro grad- 
uates of Hampton and Tuske- 
gee. 18 : on the acquirement of 
property by Negroes. 19 ; on 
the deterioration of the Negro, 
39. 

Fulton, the late Dr. John, his 
superb editorials on "The 
Church and the Negro," 73. 

Fundamental doctrines, the, not 
denied by the Arkansas Plan, 
153. 



GALLOWAY. Bishop, on matters 
that are definitely settled in the 
South. 168. 

General Convention, to be memo- 
rialized by the Arkansas Dio- 
cesan Council, xi ; Color-Line 
must be drawn around, xiii ; 
not a necessity to the Church's 
existence, xiv : an evil day for 
the Church if Negroes should 
enter in large numbers the. 
xiv ; would commit a moral 
wrong to grant the Appeal of 
Colored Churchmen as it now 
stands, xxvi : will be influenced 
by the convictions of Southern 
men rather than the statistics 



312 



The Crucial Eace Question 



of Northern theorists, 24 ; the 
political arena of the Church, 
159 ; has in the Appeal of Col- 
ored Churchmen its opportunity 
for a great missionary move- 
ment, 161 ; could not safely 
open its doors to as many as 
four Negro Bishops, 163 ; 
should recognize the existence 
of the Color-Line, 168 ; should 
share our Episcopate with all 
races and sects, 217 ; should be 
open to the Reformed Episco- 
pal Church, 218 ; should create 
a Pan-American Conference 
of Apostolic Bishops, 221 ; 
Negroes can be members of the 
Catholic Church without rep- 
resentation in the, 236 ; Ne- 
groes may have their own, 2o6 : 
one Negro Clergyman from 
Texas was by chance a member 
of a, 236 ; not the source of 
ecclesiastical life, 237 : Joint 
Committee of, on the Memorial 
of Colored Church Workers, 
253 ; may make one of four re- 
plies to Memorial. 254 ; many 
members of, will decline the 
Appeal, 255 ; representation in, 
the great objection to the 
Negro Episcopate. 260 ; of 
1007, should organize an Au- 
tonomous Afro-American Cath- 
olic Church, 266 : may exercise 
the privileges which are exer- 
cised by Dioceses in the separa- 
tion of the Negro work, 278. 

General Conference, of the M. E 
Church, has grappled with the 
question of Negro Bishops, 261 : 
how the Negro delegates to 
the, are entertained, 277 : of 
the M. E. Church South, organ- 
ized an independent Church 
for its loyal Negro member- 
ship, 290. 

Gentile, Episcopate, developed 
with the spread of Christianity, 
267 : and Jew. antipathy be- 
tween, in the early Church, 
294. 

Georgia, Bishop of. maintains 
that a white ministry or su- 
pervision is necessary for the 
Colored race. 183 : her Negro 
communicants about a thou- 
sand. 185 : Colored work in. 
has prospered. 185 : additions 
of Negro communicants in. 
from the West Indies, 186 : 
the prosperity of the work in. 
no argument against the draw- 
ing of the Color-Line. 186: the 
Council of Colored Churchmen 
in, is practically a Colored 



Convocation, 186 ; a review of 
the Colored work in, during the 
last decade, 186 ; Colored work 
in, not a success as supposed, 
187 ; Comparison of the work 
in. with that in Arkansas, 
187. 

God, made races, 12 ; implanted 
race prejudice, 12 ; His will 
that racial differences be pre- 
served, 136 ; created all man- 
kind of one blood, 154 ; created 
differentiating features, 154 ; 
has not ceased to reveal Him- 
self to the world, xix ; is being 
revealed by scientists and 
philosophers, xix ; as it was 
formerly revealed by the Scrip- 
tures, xxiv ; His will is that 
there shall be different races, 
xxiv. 

Gospel, The, and the Apostolic 
ministry, inseparably connected, 
220. 

Government of State and Church, 
the Negro must not be en- 
couraged to share in the, 14. 



HAMPTON AND TUSKEGEE, it 
is said that none of their grad- 
uates are in jail, 18 : not doing 
what they are popularly sup- 
posed to be doing, 51. 

Hanckell Dr., pointed out in 
1868, the lapsing of the Negro 
communicants in South Caro- 
lina, 183. 

Harris, Joel Chandler, states that 
the majority of Negroes are 
sober and industrious, 19. 

Hayti, has a Negro Bishop, 299 ; 
some consider the work in, as 
a failure, 241 ; conditions in, 
241 ; no Protestant body has 
been able to make headway in, 

241 ; negro missionaries have 
done all the work in, 242 ; 
Church in, made independent, 

242 : work in. aided by the Do- 
mestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society, 242 : Clergy in. are 
obliged to do secular work. 

243 : difficulties attending the 
beginning of the work in. 243 ; 
statistics of the Church in. 
243 ; no white Bishop could 
have done better work in, than 
Bishop Holly has done, 
243 : work in, compares favor- 
ably with that in other Roman 
Catholic Countries. 244 : Bish- 
op Holly was the pioneer mis- 
sionary to, 244. 



Index 



313 



Henderson, the Rev. K. L.. Treas- 
urer of offerings from Colored 
Clergy intended for the Con- 
vocation of Arkansas. 149. 

Higher learning, excellence in, 
not a canonical requirement for 
the Episcopate, 61. 

Hindoos, and Caucasians, are 
kindred peoples, 70 : will not 
be effectively reached by a 
Caucasian ministry, 71. 

Historic Episcopacy, The, cannot 
be conceded for even the cause 
of Church unity, 232. 

History shows that Political and 
Social equality are inseparable, 
120. 

Holly. Bishop, has measured up 
morally, 60 ; his work consid- 
ered unsuccessful by some, 
241 ; results of his work grati- 
fying. 243 ; no white Bishop 
could' have done better in 
Hayti, 243 ; is a great success 
all things considered, 244 : 
would have built up a self-sup- 
porting Diocese, had Hayti 
been a State in the U. S. A. 

Holy Orders, Colored men should 
not be admitted to, unless all 
Orders are open to them, 222. 

Humiliating defeat for Afro- 
Americans if represented in the 
General Convention, 159. 

IDEAL, every race has its own, 
286 ; Negro should discover his 
God-given, 286 : that all races 
should be united in the Church, 
296. 

Idealism, has its proper place, 
228 ; too much, a hindrance. 
229 ; should be supplemented 
with practicalism, 230 ; should 
give way to practicalism in 
American Christianity, 234 ; 
Republican, has failed in its 
efforts for the Negro, 235. 

Idealist The, his objection to the 
Arkansas Plan, 227 : the Cath- 
olic, should learn wisdom from 
Republican idealists. 

Ideas versus Situations, 231. 

Illiteracy of the Negro reduced 
since the War, 18. 

Independent, Episcopate for the 
Negro, the author asked for it 
in his Episcopal Address and 
is its only advocate, 264, sup- 
position that it will lead to 
schism, 264 ; Negro Churches, 
statistics of, 179. 



India, caste system of, not anala- 
gous to racial antipathy in the 
United States, 69 ; cannot be 
permanently reached by a 
Caucasian ministry, 71. 



Indian, 



Anglo-Saxon 



did 



not 
amalgamate with the, 106 ; 
Spaniards did, 106; American, 
reason why he is becoming ex- 
tinct, 117 ; Negro will follow 
fate of, 41. 

Industrial, deterioration of 

Southern Negro, claimed by 
Professor Wilcox, 35, Pro- 
fessor Hugh M. Browne, 38. 
Mr. Fortune. 38, Mr. Fitch, 
38, and Dr. Frissell, 39 ; Field, 
the only hope of the Negro, 
117. 

Israelo- American, Episcopate 
should be given the Jews, 83. 

Israelo-Egyptial, history of is be- 
ing repeated in the Afro- Amer- 
ican, 151. 



JAPANESE must be given a 
native Episcopate, 259. 

Jerusalem, Diocese of, had con- 
temporary Bishops, 207 ; Bish- 
op of, his relation to the other 
Apostles, 207 ; the See city of 
the Twelve Apostles, 207 ; 
Council of, why called, 299. 

Jew and Gentile, antipathy be- 
tween, in the early Church, 
294. 

Jewish, Episcopate was not in- 
tended to save the whole world, 
266. 

Jews, did not complain because 
they were not invited to the 
tables of the Egyptians. 10 ; 
and Negroes in large numbers 
would menace the peace of 
the Church, 83 ; should have a 
racial Episcopate, 83 ; in Egypt 
show the opportunity of the 
Negro in the political realm of 
religion, 158 ; do not cease to 
be Israelites when they be- 
come Christians, 214 ; cause of 
failure of our missions to the, 
214 ; ecclesiastical government 
of the, 265. 

Joint Commission of the General 
Convention on the Memorial of 
Colored Churchmen, 253 ; se- 
curing data, 281. 

Jones, Absalom, first Negro cler- 
gyman of the Church, 178 ; 
should have been consecrated 



314 



The Crucial Race Question 



a Bishop, 178 ; was better edu- 
cated than Allen or Varick, 

178. 



KEANE, Professor, on The Negro, 
93, 

Kentucky, the Negro has lost 
ground industrially in, 36. 



LESSON my First in the Race 
Problem, 93, reflections result- 
ing from, 95, my second, 141. 

Letter, of Anglo-American Priest 
on the motive of the author 
in writing this book, xxvi ; of 
Afro-American Priest on mo- 
tive, xxvii ; of Northern wo- 
men protesting against the 
drawing of the Color-Line, 4 ; 
of a Boston rector on Color- 
Line, 4 ; of a white Northerner 
protesting against the charge 
of Negro degeneration ; of the 
Rt. Rev. Dr. Penick, on the 
Race Problem, 283 ; of Minister 
of the M. E. Church, South, 
289; of Rev. Dr. George Will- 
iamson Smith on Racial Bish- 
ops, 293. 

Liberia has a Negro Bishop. 299. 

Linus and Clement, contemporary 
Bishops of Rome, 206. 

Little Rock, material progress of 
the Negroes of, 131. 

Living Church, The, Editor of, 
is "on the fence" with regard 
to the racial Episcopate, 82 ; 
suggests Suffragans, 82; op- 
posed to the Arkansas Plan, 
82. 

Louisiana, Negro has lost ground 
industrially in, 37 ; Bishop of, 
the Chairman of the Joint Com- 
mission on the Memorial of 
Colored Churchmen, 253. 

MAGNA CHARTA of the Negro, 
the supposed, 111. 

Man, a complex being, xx ; civil- 
ization the greatest character- 
istic of xx ; the three essential 
and inseparable parts of, xxi ; 
the body and the civilization of, 
analagous, xxi. 

Mann, Bishop, on pulpit courtesy 
to the denominations, 218. 

Massachusetts, *The Bishop of, 
on racial lines, 99. 

McGuire, Archdeacon, offers sta- 
tistical rebuttal to Negro de- 



generation, 27 ; First Annual 
Report of. 273 ; on Racial 
Bishops, 273. 

McLegion and Pierce, Methodist 
Bishops, ordained two inde- 
pendent Negro Bishops, 290. 

Martyrdom, the author does not 
desire, 176. 

Maryland, the Bishop of. believes 
that white supervision is nes- 
essary for the Colored work, 
183. 

Medical evidence points to the 
Physical degeneration of the 
Negro, 42. 

Memorable event, a, in the his- 
tory of the Diocese of Arkan- 
sas, 245. 

Memorial of Conference of Col- 
ored Churchmen to the General 
Convention may be answered in 
one of four ways, 254. 

Methodism, lessons may be learnt 
from, in dealing with races, 
217. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 
North, has not been able to 
adjust the question of Negro 
Bishops, 261, its colored mem- 
bership still agitating the ques- 
tion 290 ; South, organized the 
C. M. E. Church for its Negro 
members, 179, relations of the 
C. M. E. Church with, 190, the 
Episcopal Church should imi- 
tate the, in setting up an 
independent Negro Church, 
190, letter from a Minister of 
the, 289, state of its Colored 
membership at close of the 
War, 289, these were largely 
absorbed by the Northern Negro 
Methodists, 289, the loyal con- 
tingent organized into independ- 
ent church, 290, ordained two 
Negro Bishops, 290, and main- 
tains schools for these Negro 
Methodists, 290. 

Methodist and Baptists, white, do 
more for their Colored brethren 
than Churchmen do for theirs. 
80. 

Milman, asserts that there was a 
dual episcopate in Rome, 207. 

Miscegenation, Northern theorists, 
on, 99; Wendell Phillips on, 
99 ; in the South as witnessed 
by the Mulattoes, 106; Pro- 
fessor Smith on. 107 ; Professor 
Winchell on, 108 ; James Bryce 
on, 108 ; in the North, 121. 



Index 



315 



Missonary, Benefactors, fell away 
after the drawing of the Color- 
Line in Arkansas, 3 ; efforts of 
the Colored clergy to be con- 
centrated on the Convocation 
of Arkansas, 149 ; jurisdictions, 
appealed for by Colored 
Churchmen, 253 ; Report, First 
Annual, of Archdeacon Mc- 
Guire, 278 ; Work among the 
Colored People of Arkansas 
when the author became Bish- 
op, 171 : under the old plan, 
171 ; under the new, 172. 

Missionary Episcopate for the 
Negro, doomed to failure, 105 : 
an insult to the race, 114 ; will 
not afford opportunity for self- 
government. 158 ; will result 
in humiliation for Colored 
Churchmen, 160 : the idea of, 
should be given up by the Col- 
ored Churchmen, 100 ; many 
are in favor of a, 257 ; would 
not be the best thing. 258 : 
would defeat the end in view : 
will not provide Colored 
Churchmen with enough Bish- 
ops and freedom, 259. 

Missions, Prayer for, its thrilling 
effect, 246. 

Mississippi, school tax in, 47 : 
material progress of Negroes 
in, 131 ; Diocese of, its prepos- 
terous request concerning 
Bishop Ferguson, 163. 

Mistake made by the author's 
critics on Color-Line drawing, 
xviii. 

Mongrels, African proverb con- 
cerning, 110. 

Moral, degeneration of the Afro- 
American shown by Professor 
Smith, 31 : failure, possibility 
of, should not prevent the con- 
secration of Negro Bishops, 
59. 

Moses, Negro. needed. 119 ; 
DuBois not the, 119 ; Washing- 
ton not the, 119 ; the true, 
will not preach amalgamation, 
126 ; the standards he will 
set, 197. 

Motive of the author in writing 
this book, called into question, 
xxvii : must be left to Him 
Who knoweth all things, xxix : 
a personal defence as to the, 
xxix. 

Mulatto, population, parentage of, 
106 ; bears witness to the 
shameful admixture of blood, 
106 ; shows that Southern men 



do not practice what they 

preach, 13 ; inferiority of, 

claimed by Professor Smith, 
110. 



NATION, the true meaning of 
the word so translated, is 
"race," 68. 

National, Church, on racial lines, 
needed by the Negro, 255 ; 
Churches, are race churches, 
294. 

Native, Churches, will be formed 
in China and Japan, 299 ; 
Episcopates, a necessity, 215 ; 
must be given Chinese and Jap- 
anese, 259, and Afro-American, 
259. 

Nature, unity, of, universally ac- 
cepted, xix. 

Necessity laid upon the Anglo- 
American to give Afro-Amer- 
ican his own Episcopate, 156. 

Negro, The, supposed to be 
Preadamic, 71 ; Professor 
Keane, on, 110. 

Negro, The American, considers 
the Southernized Northerner 
his worst enemy, xxvii ; must not 
be encouraged to hope for 
share in the government of 
State or Church, 14 ; property 
acquired by him since the War, 
19 ; is not prepared for racial 
Episcopate according to South- 
ern conviction, 20 ; in the South- 
ern Black Belt, his condition, 
26 ; in civilized employments, 
29 ; has lost ground industrially 
in "Virginia, 36, Kentucky, 30. 
Louisiana, 37, South Carolina, 
37 ; will follow the fate of the 
Indian, 41 ; not as buoyant as 
formerly, 42 ; his ills not cured 
by education, 52 ; his moral 
condition improved by contact 
by the whites, 75 ; moral con- 
dition largely due to religious 
influences, 75 : can be bene- 
fited by the Episcopal Church 
more than by any other body. 
75 : would find opportunity for 
self-government in an exodus, 
77 : shameful neglect of, by 
white churchmen^ 80 ; should 
guard against contamination of 
his blood by white villains, 110 ; 
can never receive firm foothold 
in American politics, 116 : of 
greater industrial value than 
the Indian, 117 ; welcomed into 
politics in the North, but not 
into the field of labor, 127 ; 



316 



The Crucial Eace Question 



excluded from politics in the 
South, but welcomed into the 
field of labor, 127 ; his lot 
harder than when in bondage, 
128 ; no, the object of charity 
in Arkansas, 129 ; will be over- 
shadowed while he remains in 
tbe United States. 145, 255 ; 
must strike out for himself, 
145 ; his salvation bound up 
with religous independence, 
151 : fortunate for him that he 
gravitates towards autonomy, 
151 ; his face should be turned 
towards his own ideal, 153 : 
why he should be excluded from 
civil government affairs, 157 : 
must be governed by white 
man in civil affairs. 157 ; must, 
however, take an important 
part in the political govern- 
ment of himself. 157 : why he 
should govern himself in ec- 
clesiastical affairs. 157 ; how 
he may become a mighty power 
in the government of the 
United States, 158 ; has failed 
in the political arenas of Dio- 
cesan Councils, 159 ; will ex- 
perience a most humiliating 
defeat in the political arena of 
the General Convention, 159 : 
why one went from the Sunny 
South to the Windy City, 195 : 
needs a national and racial 
church. 254 : lacks race pride. 
10, 143. 145, 196. 205: must 
work out his own ideal, 284 : 
should be made to see the peril 
of following false ideals, 284 : 
his ideal made by God, 280 : 
cannot be made into a white 
man, 280 : to be pointed to 
God's use for him. 287 ; prac- 
tically separated from the 
Church as though in a different 
geographical area. 299 : sepa- 
rate organizations for the. will 
not divide the Church, 300. 

Negro Birth-rate, decreasing, 34, 
41. 

Negro Bishops, a failure if 
limited to one only, xiii ; con- 
secration of, necessary and 
expedient, xiii ; the desire for 
them perfectly right and na- 
tural. 05 ; action upon, by the 
Diocese of Pennsylvania. 74 ; 
one only would be physically 
unable to cover territory. 103 ; 
one. might succeed in a 
limited territory, 103 ; one. 
would be an absurdity. 163 : 
one, would not be a fair test 
of the Plan, 103 ; four, the 



minimum to be consecrated. 

163 ; General Convention could 
not safely open its door to as 
many as four. 163 ; less than 
four would be' deplorable. 164 ; 
one for North, three for South, 

164 ; claimed that the two, are 
not a success, 239 ; have meas- 
ured up to expectations, 240 ; 
have been successful all things 
considered, 240 ; of the Angli- 
can Communion have measured 
up morally, 00 ; one foreign, 
not objectionable in the House 
of Bishops, 200 : in large num- 
bers would be intolerable, 200 : 
question of has not been ad- 
justed by the M. E. Church, 
North, 201 : asked for by Ne- 
groes with the desire that they 
shall preside over white as 
well as black conferences. 201 ; 
their entertainment considered, 
277 ; consecrated already for 
Liberia and Hayti, 299. 

Negro. Blood, Southerners guard 
against its introduction into 
their veins. 100 : Child, the 
first born in America was bap- 
tized in the Church, 183 ; 
Church, would be established 
in Negro territory if there 
were such, 299. 

Negro Churchmen, remarkable 
drift among, on the Negro 
Episcopate, xv ; should have 
white leadership, 50 ; had not 
official representation before 
the War, 70 ; should not med- 
dle in the government of the 
Church, 79 ; before the Civil 
War, 183 ; believe their Pro- 
posed Canon the best adjust- 
ment, 275 ; loyal, 270, 282 ; 
require the equipment of the 
complete ministry, 277 ; dis- 
play common sense in social 
matters, 277. 

Negro, clergy, who might be nom- 
inated for the Episcopate, 254 t 
needs of, not met by the white 
Bishop, 280 ; Clergyman, first 
was Absalom Jones, 178, one. 
by chance, was a member of a 
General Convention, 230 ; Com- 
municants in Georgia, 185, why 
they fell away in South Caro- 
lina after the War. 184 ; Con- 
verts, cannot be assimilated by 
the Church, 70 : Criminality, as 
shown by Professor Smith. 32. 
by Professor Wilcox, 39, by 
Hon. E. .7. Bowers, 42 ; Death- 
rate alarming, 35 ; Degenera- 
tion, many disagree with the 



Index 



317 



author's views on, xviii ; Dele- 
gates to General Conference of 
the M. E. Church entertained 
by Negroes, 277 ; Development 
as shown by statistics, 19 : 
Domination in Southern poli- 
tics would cause blood-shed, 
118. 

Negro Episcopate, would be a 
dreadful mistake if the Color- 
Line be not drawn, xiii : must 
be numerically large, xiv ; re- 
markable drift on, xiv,, among 
Southern Bishops, xv ; per- 
sonnel of, cannot be expected 
to average up to that of white 
Bishops, 254 ; would be an up- 
lift to Afro-American, 257 ; op- 
posed by many Bishops North 
and South, 260. 

Negro, Girls should prefer black 
dolls, 143 ; Graduates of Hamp- 
ton and Tuskegee. an excellent 
moral record claimed for them, 
18 ; Illiteracy greatly reduced 
since the War, 18 ; labor, 
worthless condition of, 44, 
117 ; Methodists, why they 
separated from the whites. 
177 : Methodist Bishops would 
have come into the Church had 
there been a Negro Episcopate. 
189 : Ministry, the immorality 
of, 55 ; Missionaries have done 
all the work in Hayti, 242. 

Negro, Missionary Episcopate, 
would be tramelled by over- 
lapping of jurisdictions, 260. 
would be barred from some 
Dioceses, 260, the great disad- 
vantage of, 260, objection to it 
on account of its representa- 
tion in the General Convention, 
260, would come to a disap- 
pointing end. 262, would be a 
mistake, 262, is feasible and 
expedient according to some. 
279 ; Missionary Jurisdiction 
in the South. Mississippi re- 
quests that Bishop Ferguson 
erect a. 163 : Problem, of the 
Episcopal Church a two-fold 
one, 70, has crept into all re- 
ligious bodies, 275, the most 
vexed of American questions. 
275 : Professor, a. entertained 
by Northern whites, 7, pro- 
tests against the refusal of his 
white colleagues to lunch with 
him, 8 : Question, the strong 
editorials of The Church Stand- 
ard on. 73 ; Representation in 
>eislative assemblies, in tbe 
Church will result in failure. 
238, keeps Northern and South- 



ern Presbyterians apart. 261 ; 
Suffragan Episcopate would be 
a Jim-Crow affair, 88 ; Up- 
starts would cause trouble as 
Bishops, 57 ; Work, done by 
the Church in 100 years, 178, 
in Georgia not as successful 
as supposed, 187. 

Negroes, claim that drawing of 
the ecclesiastical Color-Line is 
wrong, xviii ; have made en- 
couraging progress since the 
War, 17 ; contribute to the sup- 
port of white schools in some 
Southern States, 18 : the ma- 
jority are industrious, and 
sober, according to Joel Chand- 
ler Harris, 19 ; in the United 
States as described in Census 
Bulletin No. 8. 32 : gratifying 
progress of many, 49 ; some are 
losing interest in education. 
50 ; self-respecting, will likelv 
abandon the Church. 70 ; and 
Jews in large numbers would 
menace the peace and prosper- 
ity of the Church, 83 ; in Ar- 
kansas making material prog- 
ress, 129, in Florida, 131, in 
Mississippi, 131 ; should not 
make political equality the pur- 
pose of getting an education 
or wealth. 132 ; prefer to be 
by themselves in religious af- 
fairs, 150 ; some go North to 
marry white women, 196 : their 
interest in the question before 
the Church, 276 ; self-respect- 
ing, will not enter the Church 
until there is a racial Episco- 
pate. 279 : think it an invasion 
of their rights to place white 
pastors over them, 290. 

New England, change of senti- 
ment in, on Color-Line draw- 
ing, 100. 

New Testament does not support 
Diocesan Episcopacy, 231. 

New York, Dr. Frissell's address 
in, 18 ; the great city of human 
equality, 102 ; the place in 
which the Color Question will 
be settled, 102 ; in, money 
counts rather than blood. 103 ; 
the rich Negro cannot find ac- 
commodation in the hotels of, 

103 ; the Mecca of the wealthy. 

104 : residence of the wealthier 
Negroes, 104 ; the Color-Line is 
drawn even against rich Ne- 
groes in, 104 ; Bishop Co- 
adjutor of, his remark on 
missionary funds, 160, he 
would be able to raise the 



318 



The Crucial Race Question 



funds necessary for the support 
of an Afro-American Episco- 
pate, 160. 

North Carolina, its Negro Church 
work compared with that in 
Arkansas, 189. 

Northern, People outraged be- 
cause of the drawing of the 
Color-Line in the Church, 3 ; 
Christians claim that the Ar- 
kansas Plan is opposed to the 
law of Christian Charity, 3 ; 
Objectors to the Color-Line oc- 
cupy untenable ground, 5 ; Din- 
ner Party, an interesting dia- 
logue at a', 6 : Lady's attack on 
Color-Line drawing in the 
Church, 6 : Dioceses, the Suffra- 
gan Episcopate admirably 
adapted to, 82. 

Northerners, not ready to dis- 
franchise the Negro, xxvi ; deny 
the charge of Negro degenera- 
tion. 15 ; cannot learn the 
Negro by statistics, 26. 

OBJECTION, chief, of Negroes 
and Northern whites to the 
Arkansas Plan, 3 : Overlapping. 
199. 277 : of the Catholic, 199 ; 
of the Idealist. 237 ; of the 
Southerner, 239. 

Observation, much of the mate- 
rial in this book gathered from. 
44. 

Occasion for writing this book, 
the Appeal of Colored Church- 
men xxv. 

One Bishop, more than, permitted 
for exigencies in Sub-apostolic 
times, 204. 

Opponents to the Arkansas Plan, 
the two-fold task of, xxv. 

Opportunism, rather than ideal- 
ism, needed in the religious 
realm, 234. 

Origin, of the A. M. E. Church. 
Bethel. 177. Zion. 177 : of the 
first Colored congregation of 
Churchmen, 178 : of the C. M. 
E. Church, 179 : of the Cum- 
berland Presbvterian Church 
(Colored), 181. 

Orthodox Greek Church has two 
Bishops in New York city for 
different races, 211. 

Ovation to Archdeacon McGuire, 
248, how accounted for, 248. 

Overlapping, objection to the Ar- 
kansas Plan, 199, 277 ; juris- 
dictions not uncommon, 199 ; 



many examples of, 199 ; all 
Roman Bishoprics in the United 
States are examples of, 199 ; 
Anglican communion is respon- 
sible for much, 199 ; may be 
done at home as abroad, 200 : 
exemplified in the ministry of 
St. Peter and St. Paul, 203; 
in Rome, 206 ; practised in 
providing Bishops for Jews and 
Bishops for Gentiles, 206 ; an 
instance in Samaria, 207 ; il- 
lustrated by the Bishopric for 
the Ruthenian Poles, 212 ; uni- 
versal in the British Empire 
and the United States, 213 ; 
would work against Negro Mis- 
sionary Episcopate, 259, 260 ; 
of jurisdictions does not de- 
stroy Catholicity, 269. 



PAINE INSTITUTE maintained 
by Southern Methodists for 
Negroes, 290. 

Pan-American Conference of 
Apostolic Bishops should be 
created, 221. 

Pan-Anglican Conference, < Bish- 
ops of the Afro-American 
Church would be invited to, 
227. 

Pem'ck. Bishop, expresses forcible 
truths on the Race Problem, 
152; his letter, 283. 

Pennsylvania, Diocese of. the 
greatest missionary force in the 
Church, 73 ; Diocesan Conven- 
tion of, its important work on 
the Appeal for Negro Bishops, 
74, its conclusive arguments for 
such Bishops. 74 ; St. Thomas 
Colored congregation accepted 
by, 178. 

Perfection, not a requirement for 
the Episcopate, 254. 

Personal criticism of the author 
unanswerable, xxvii. 

Philadelphia, Clerical Brother- 
hood, the strongest weekly as- 
sociation of Anglo-Catholic 
Clergymen, 73 ; first Colored 
Episcopal congregation orig- 
inated in, 178. 

Phillips. Wendell, on Miscegena- 
tion, 99. 

Philosophv of Color-Line draw- 
ing, xvii. 

Physical defeneration of the 
Afro-American shown by Pro- 
fessor Smith, 34, by Frofessor 
Wilcox, 41. 



Index 



319 



Picnic Party, a, which required 
two shade trees, 7. 

Pierce, the late Bishop, his ideals 
respecting the relation of the 
Negro to the Church, 175 ; ex- 
perienced great troubles because 
be did not draw the Color- 
Line in the Church, 175. 

Pierce and McLegion, Methodist 
Bishops who consecrated the 
first two C. M. E. Bishops. 

Pine Bluff, liberal pledge of the 
Colored Mission in, 130. 

Plantation Negro, wise saying of 
a, 168. 

Political, equality for the Negro 
held out by Northern Demo- 
crats and Dr. Washington, 
112 ; self-government, fitness 
for, 129 ; enfranchisement, is 
claimed to be a strong incen- 
tive to Negro virtue, 129 ; 
realm of religion the great op- 
portunity of the Negro, 158 ; 
arena of the Diocesan Council, 
Negro has failed in, 159 ; arena 
of the Church is the General 
Convention, 159, and Negro 
will fail here also, 159 ; power 
in the South will remain with 
the whites, 169. 

Politics, the Negro must with- 
draw from, or perish, 116 ; ex- 
ists in religious as well as civil 
governments, 159. 

Prayer Book, the, opens up the 
higher orders of the ministry 
to the Negro Deacon, 222 ; re- 
ligion, would be a great bless- 
ing to the Afro-American, 257. 

Practicalism, its necessity, 229 ; 
should be exercised by Church- 
men in dealing with the ques- 
tion of Negro Bishops, 230. 

Preadamite origin of Negro 
claimed, 71. 

Preamble and Resolution of Con- 
ference of Church Workers 
among Colored People protest- 
ing against action of the 
Diocese of Arkansas, 148. 

Preface to Ordinal maintains the 
three-fold Order of the minis- 
try as of Apostolic origin, 232. 

Presbyterians, North and South, 
kept apart through Negro rep- 
resentation in legislative as- 
semblies, 261. 

Progress of Negroes since the 
War. 18. 

Property acquired by Negroes 
since the War, 19, Dr. Frissell 
quoted, 19. 



Prophets who are still revealing 

God, xix. 
Propositions, six, established by 

this book, xii. 

Protest against Color-Line draw- 
ing from Northern people, 4. 



RACE, the true rendering of the 
word translated nation, 68 ; 
importance of the word from a 
missionary standpoint, 68 ; 
each, has its own civilization, 
284 ; one, can be schooled by 
another, 2S6 ; each, needed in 
the family of races, 287. 

Race antagonism, Mr. Sharpless 
states that it is universal, 22 ; 
differences in the East result 
in racial churches, 298 ; hatred, 
the author is free from, 23 ; 
prejudice, implanted by God, 
12, 118, demands that Color- 
Lines be drawn, 13, how the 
Apostles met it, 203 ; pride, the 
Negro lacking in, 10, 143, 14o, 
196, 265 ; Problem, exists in 
Northern cities, 6, a sad real- 
ity, 20, how the Episcopal 
Church can best aid in solu- 
tion of, 20, the author's ignor- 
ance of the, before 1898, 25, 
what Bishop Dudley thought of 
the, 25, my first Lesson in the, 
93 its solution stated, 98, my 
second Lesson in, 141, Bishop 
Penick's weighty words on, 
152, 283, more than a color 
question, 152, in the Church, 
not altogether new, 297 ; Ques- 
tion, the author criticised for 
discussing all phases of the 
xxii, the first which troubled 
the Church. 298 ; service, spec- 
ial officers provided for, in the 
early church, 298. 

Races differ because of God's 
will, xxiv ; made by God, 12, 
283 ; cannot be treated alike, 
152, 283 ; should be united in 
one Church, 296. 

Racial antipathy, prevents whites 
and blacks living together as 
equals, 137. 

Racial Bishops, favored by Editor 
of the Church Standard, 72 ; 
would contribute to race pride, 
143 ; would not be a radical 
measure, 201 ; must be con- 
secrated if the Church has any 
mission in the United States. 
215 ; indicated by the law of 
expediency, 233 ; in Eastern 



320 



The Crucial Eace Question 



countries, Dr. George William- 
son Smith on. 267, 293 ; de- 
manded by membership of the 
M. E. Church, North, 290 ; in 
Apostolic times, 294. 

Racial, co-operation required to 
work out God's designs, 152 ; 
distinctions to be recognized by 
the Negro, 98 ; difficulty, the 
root of our, 98. 

Racial Episcopate, a recognition 
of the Color-Line, xxvi ; South- 
erners do not think that the 
Negroes are ready for a, 20 ; 
the hope of the Arkansas Plan 
is a, 81 ; would be justified by 
example of the Apostles, 200 ; 
a necessity, 215 ; Bishop Whit- 
tingham on. 223 ; the Lord's 
intention, 266. 

Racial, integrity, not impaired by 
white male incontinence. 107 ; 
police, teach a lesson, 212. 

Randall, Bishop, shows govern- 
ment of the United States to 
be shaped on ecclesiastical 
lines, 266. 

Reconstruction Period, the only 
time when the Negro had a 
real part in political govern- 
ment, ill. 

Relation of Convocation of Ar- 
kansas to Diocese of Arkansas, 
146. 

Relationship between the races 
in the South before the War, 
76, changes in, since, 98. 

Reformed Episcopal Church, Gen- 
eral Convention should be open 
to the, 218. 

Refutation of the charge of Ne- 
gro degeneration as appears to 
be offered by the Census Bu- 
reau statistics, 19. 

Religion, the only realm left the 
Negro for self-government, xii, 
145 ; its essence, xxiv ; insep- 
arably connected with politics 
and society, xxiv ; Christian, 
the, does not do away with 
human distinctions, xxiv. 

Religious independence, the sal- 
vation of the Negro is bound 
up with, 151. 

Replies, four, that General Con- 
vention may make to the Ap- 
peal of Colored Churchmen, 
254. 

Representation in the General 
Convention, the error in the 
Appeal of Colored Churchmen, 
xxvi ; will not afford oppor- 



tunity for self-government, 159 ; 
will bring humiliation and de- 
feat to the Negro, 159 ; would 
be disastrous to the whole 
Church, 163 ; the great objec- 
tion to a Negro Missionary 
Episcopate. 

Representation, in General Coun- 
cils, the only official relation- 
ship of Catholic Churches, 

227 ; in legislative assemblies 
not essential to Catholic unity. 

228 ; of the Negro in legislative 
assemblies keeps apart North- 
ern and Southern Presby- 
terians. 261. 

Republic, The, may exist without 
universal suffrage, 120. 

Republican Party, The, cannot 
fulfill its political promises to 
the Negro, 112 ; its ideals for 
the Negro impossible of real- 
ization, 176, 235. 

Resolutions of the Arkansas 
Diocesan Council of 1906, xi. 

Richmond, General Convention at, 
will act upon the Memorial of 
Colored Churchmen, 254. 

Righteousness of drawing the 
Color-Line in every realm, xix. 

Roman Church, meets the needs 
of different races, 298. 

Rome, has granted a racial Bish- 
op for the Ruthenian Poles in 
America, 212. 

Roosevelt, President, is unable to 
work out the ideals of the Re- 
publican Party for the Negro, 
176. 

Ruthenian Poles have their own 
Metropolitan in America, 212. 

SALVATION of the Afro-Amer- 
ican dependent upon drawing 
of the Color-Line, xxv. 

Samaria, an instance of overlap- 
ping jurisdiction, 207. 

Schism, guarding against, xiii ; 
need not be feared by Catholics 
because of racial Bishops, 88 ; 
cannot be created where there 
is no unity, 88 ; Colored Clergy 
have no desire to create, 178'; 
healed by communion of Bish- 
ops with overlapping jurisdic- 
tions, 209 ; not incurred by 
setting Negroes apart in a 
racial organization, 228 ; fear 
of, is based upon a misconcep- 
tion of Catholicity, 256. 



Index 



321 



School Tax, in Mississippi, 47, 
Florida, 47, Arkansas, 48. 

Science, teaches that unity runs 
through the works of God, 
xxiv ; and philosophy reveal the 
will of God, xxiv. 

Scientists and Philosophers, their 
claim upon our belief, xix. 

Scientific Creed, what it teaches 
of the unity of nature, xx. 

Second Lesson, my. in the Great 
American Race Problem, 141. 

Segregation, in religious affairs 
preferred by the Negro Chris- 
tian, 150. 

Self-gvernment, a necessity for 
racial development, xii, 145 ; 
can be effected by Conquest or 
Exodus, 77 ; should follow 
emancipation, 77 : will pro- 
mote race pride, 146 ; political, 
its two spheres, 157, the 
Negro must take part in his 
own, 157, out of question for 
the American Negro, 265 ; ec- 
clesiastical, precedes other 
forms, 265, the only field left 
the American Negro, 265, its 
bearing on political self-govern- 
ment, 265. 

Self-support, progress in, being 
made by the Colored Church- 
men of Arkansas, 173. 

Sentiment, public, in favor of 
granting Episcopate to Negro 
Churchmen, 256. 

Separate, schools and churches 
desired by both races in the 
South, 169 ; church organiza- 
tion for the Negro will not 
divide the Church, 300. 

Separation, does not mean neg- 
lect, 86, of races necessary not- 
withstanding any endowments 
of the Negro, 124 ; movement, 
opposed by some Southern 
Bishops, xvi, in Arkansas is 
advantageous. 274, may be fos- 
tered by General Convention as 
by Dioceses. 270. 

Sewanee Conference of Southern 
Bishops, 1905 and 1906. xvi ; 
of 1883 proposed special Dio- 
cesan organizations for Ne- 
groes, xvi. 

Sharpless. Mr. R. P., on race an- 
tagonism, 22. 

Situations versus ideas, 231. 

Six fundamental convictions 
forming the thesis of this book, 
95. 



Statistical Protest from Arch- 
deacon McGuire, 27. and from 
Professor Tunnell against the 
charge of Negro degeneration, 
29. 

Statistics, required in proof of 



Negro degeneration, 17 



sup- 



porting Negro development, 19 ; 
cannot deceive the author, 51 ; 
fail to tell the story of Negro 
degeneration, 26 ; concerning 
the Negro have no great real- 
ities behind them, 51 ; of the 
A. M. E. Church, 179 ; C. M. 
E. Church, 179 ; Negro Work 
in our Church, 179 ; C. M. E. 
Church, 180 ; Cumberland Pres- 
byterian Church, 181 : compar- 
ing the strength of independent 
and non-independent Negro 
Churches, 1S2. 

Statisticians, adverse criticisms 
of. answered. 15 : Expert, on 
Negro Degeneration, 31. 

Smith, Professor, his work on 
"The Color-Line" recommended, 
31 ; on Negro degeneration, 32 ; 
on Negro criminality, 32 ; on 
the inferiority of a mixed 
stock, 110 ; on Miscegenation, 
106. 

Smith. Dr. George Williamson, on 
racial Bishops, 211. 267. 293, 
does not think it schismatic to 
give Negroes their own church, 
225, holds that Episcopal au- 
thority is spiritual rather than 
geographical, 225. 

Social, Equality, prohibits polit- 
ical and ecclesiastical equality, 
135, is not what Negro Church- 
men are seeking, 282 ; inter- 
mingling of the races prohib- 
ited in the South, 168. 

Solution of the race problem in- 
dicated, 98. 

South Carolina, Negro has lost 
ground industrially in, 37 ; 
colored communicants in, be- 
fore and after the War, 183 ; 
cause for falling away of these 
communicants, 184 ; condition 
of the Colored work in. under 
a white Archdeacon, 185 : col- 
ored congregations in. are mem- 
bers of the Catholic Church 
though not represented in the 
Diocesan Council, 236. 

Southern, Bishops, remarkable 
drift among, on Negro Episco- 
pate, xv, some opposed to the 
separation movement. xvi, 
asked for an expression of 



322' 



The Crucial Bace Question 



their views on the Memorial of 
Colored Churchmen. 253 ; Dio- 
ceses, Suffragan Episcopate not 
adapted to the, 82, falling 
away of Negro communicants 
of, after the War, 185 ; Black 
Belt, one must live in the, to 
know the condition of the 
Negro, 26 ; People, have greater 
affection for Negroes than 
Northerners have, 96 ; States, 
some list separately the prop- 
erty of white and colored peo- 
ple, 46, need three Negro 
Bishops, 164 ; Whites will not 
tolerate social and official mix- 
ups, 63 ; Men do not always 
regard the Color-Line as is evi- 
denced by Mulattoes, 13. 
Southernized Northerner, a, talk- 
ing cursed prejudice to Dixie 
galleries, xxvi ; the author 
a. 24 ; Negroes regard a, as 
their worst enemy, xxvii ; de- 
fends Color-Line drawing in 
the Church, 9. 

Southerner, his objections to the 
Arkansas Plan, 239 ; does a 
great service to God and man 
in drawing the Color-Line, 12. 

Spaniard, The, amalgamated with 
the Indian, 106. 

Spartan citizenship, 120. 

Special ministry created by the 
apostles, 202. 

Spirit of Missions, The, contains 
a recent picture of Bishop Fer- 
guson and his clergy, 241. 

Spiritual, Unity of the Church 
not disturbed by the Color- 
Line, 155 : Jurisdiction in the 
same area by two or more 
Bishops. 209, rather than ter- 
ritorial in Western Europe in 
the Middle Ages., 211, Bishop 
Whittingham's letter on, to 
Bishop Howe, 222. 

St. Paul, his utterance on Cath- 
olicity explained, 268. 

St. Philip's Church, New York. 
the wealthiest Negro congrega- 
tion, 104 ; Little Ptock. before 
and since the separation move- 
ment, 271. 

St. Thomas Church, Philadelphia, 
the first Negro Episcopal con- 
gregation, 178, accepted by 
Bishop White under certain 
conditions, 178, has been self- 
supporting from the start. 178. 

Suffragan, Bishops, not much 
more in authority than Arch- 
deacons, 87, 263 ; two classes | 



would exist, 87 ; for Negroes a 
temporary makeshift, 280 ; 
Episcopate, favored by Editor 
of The Living Church, 82 ; ad- 
mirably adapted to Northern 
Dioceses, 82 ; not to Southern, 
82 ; not suitable for a popula- 
tion of different races ; the 
only purpose to be served by 
a, 83 ; the best for Negroes 
after the Autonomous form, 84 ; 
is insufficient, 84 ; being with- 
out representation would be 
defective, 84 ; with representa- 
tion would result in defeat for 
the Negro, 160 ; Afro- American 
Churchmen should give up the 
idea of a, 160 ; should be 
created for differentiated peo- 
ples of the Caucasian race, 
218 ; why preferable to the 
Missionary form, 262 ; would 
not give Negro Bishops suffi- 
cient freedom, 263 ; will not 
meet the needs of the situation, 
263 ; unsatisfactory, 276. 

Sunny South, Why this Negro 
left the, for the Windy City, 
195. 

Syllogism in which is stated the 
thesis of this book, 145. 

TABLE, the, is the gateway to 
the social Eden, 11. 

Tendency of Afro-American to 
gravitate to autonomy is for- 
tunate, 157. 

Territorial, rights in Apostolic 
times, 278 ; limits, not essen- 
tial to exercise of Episcopal 
office, 299. 

Texas, the Negro has lost ground 
industrially in, 36 ; a Negro 
clergyman from, was by chance 
a member of a General Con- 
vention, 236. 

Thesis of this book, 15, the argu- 
ment supporting the, 16. 

Three essential and inseparable 
parts, of Man, and of civiliza- 
tion, xxi. 

Three Hundredth Anniversary 
should be made an epoch by 
offering the Episcopate to all 
races and denominations, 220. 

Title of this Book, what it might 
have been. xxv. 

Traditionalism hedges in the 
Episcopal Church, 230. 

Tunnell, the Rev. Professor, of- 
fers statistical criticism of the 
charge of Negro degeneration, 
29. 



Index 



323 



Tuskegee and Hampton, no grad- 
uate of, it is said, is in jail, 
18 ; not doing what they are 
popularly supposed to be doing, 
51. 

Two shade trees required at a 
picnic party, 7. 

Two-fold task of opponents of 
the Arkansas Plan, xxv. 



UNANIMITY, practical, of action 
of the Diocese of Arkansas in 
1906, xii. 

Uncle Remus, shows traces of 
Negro ideals, 286. 

United States, government of the, 
shaped on ecclesiastical lines, 
266. 

Unity, of nature, universally ac- 
cepted, xix ; spiritual, the most 
essential thing, 90. 

Universal suffrage not necessary 
to the existence of the repub- 
lic, 20. 

Utilitarian principles should 
guide in settling the question 
of racial Bishops, 233. 

VALLEY of the Shadow of Death, 
the Negro is in the, 54. 

Varick, first Bishop of the A. M. 
E. Church, Zion, 177. 

Vincentian rule asserts that 
whatever Is most primitive is 
most Catholic, 203. 

Virginia, Negro has lost ground 
industrially in, 36 ; Bishops in, 
maintain that white supervis- 
ion of the Colored work is nec- 
essary, 183. 

Vitality of Negro race consid- 
ered, 41. 

WASHINGTON, Dr., honored and 
trusted by Eastern business 
men, 18;'on the Negro grad- 
uates of Hampton and Tuske- 
gee, 18 ; a demand made of, by 
the author, for a list of such 
graduates, 50; dollar ideal of, 
104 ; holds out political equal- 
ity to the Negro, 112 ; is not 
the ideal Moses of his race, 
119 ; his ideals compared with 
those of DuBois. 119 ; Booker, 
would be a sad misfit for 
George Washington, 153, 28o ; 
his theories will lead to mis- 
cegenation, 197. 



West Texas, the Bishop of, jus- 
tifies an Afro-American Epis- 
copate, 203 ; on the overlap- 
ping of jurisdictions of St. 
Paul and St. Peter, 203; on 
learning lessons from Metho- 
dism, 217. 

White. Bishop, of Pennsylvania, 

accepted St. Thomas colored 

congregation under his super- 
vision, 178. 

White,Archdeacon of South Caro- 
lina, his work among Negroes, 
185 ; Bishops, have not been 
successful among Negroes, 188, 
are not perfect, 254, do not 
meet the needs of Negroes, 56 ; 
Leadership, believed to be 
necessary for the Negroes, 56, 
has outlived its usefulness, 64, 
hurtful effects of much of it, 
64 ; Professors were right to 
refuse to lunch with their 
Colored colleague, 12 ; Man, the 
Negro cannot be made into a, 
286; Methodists and Baptists 
do more for their Colored 
brethren than we do for ours, 
80 ; women of the South are 
pure, 106 ; Man's country, this 
is a, 116 ; ministry for Colored 
People maintained by certain 
Bishops, 183 ; shepherds, are 
no longer listened to by the 
colored sheep, 1S4 ; pastors, 
impossible to find for colored 
congregations, 290. 

Whittingham, Bishop, his letter 
to Bishop Howe on spiritual 
rather than territorial juris- 
diction, 222 ; on a racial Epis- 
copate, 223. 

Wilcox, Professor, his statistical 
researches on Negro degenera- 
tion, 31 ; on industrial de- 
terioration, 36 ; on criminality, 
39 ; defines "Black Belt." 39 ; 
thinks that the Negro will fol- 
low the fate of the Indian, 41. 

Winchell, Professor, on Mis- 
cegenation, 108. 

Windy City, why this Negro 
went to the, from the Sunny 
South, 195. 

Woman's Auxiliary of the Dio- 
cese of Arkansas, 
deacon McGuire, 245. 



greet Arch- 



ZACH, is appealed to on the 
question of the color of a doll 
for Cora, 142 ; his reply, 142. 



"The Church for Americans" 

BY 
The Rt. Rev. William Mongomery Brown, D. D. 

Bishop of Arkansas 



A Popular Work on the Distinctive Features and Claims of the 
Episcopal Church. An Educator and Missionary of Great Interest 
to all Episcopalians and to the Multitudes who would like to 
Know More About the Mother Church of England and Her 
American Daughter. 



SIXTEENTH EDITION 

(Five Editions Within Its Firs! Year) 



DESCRIPTION. 



The book contains 501 pages which are divided between 
an Introduction and Seven Lectures, sub-divided into 35 
Chapters; and an Appendix with 28 Sections. It is well 
printed in large type on a good grade of paper and is attrac- 
tively bound in cloth. There are five valuable maps and 
charts in colors. The Bishop of Pittsburgh says of these: 
''They are in themselves worth the price of the book." The 
title of the Lectures are I, Church Membership; II, Our Con- 
troversy with Romanists; III, Our Controversy with Denom- 
inationalists; IV, The Mother Church of England; V, The 
American Church; VI, Objections to the Episcopal Church; 
VII, Why Americans Should Be Episcopalians. 

PRICE. 

One copy, postpaid, $1.25. It may be had at this price 
from its publisher, Mr. Thomas Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible 
House, New York, or from The Arkansas Churchman's Pub- 
lishing Company, Little Rock, Arkansas. Rectors and Church 
Workers desiring the book for distribution may get copies, 
expressage collect, from the Arkansas Churchman's Pub- 
lishing Company at the following rates -..Six copies, $5; twelve 
copies, $9; twenty-four copies, $16; fifty copies, $25.00. 



OPINIONS OF THE CLERGY AND -PRESS. 

"The fifth and enlarged edition of your book,' The Church 
'for Americans,' is a most fascinating work. I am recom- 
mending it as a very Vade Mecum of ecclesiastical principles, 
and as one of the best vindications of institutional Christian- 
ity extant. What religious society needs is a corporate 
Christianity — an objective system, and not merely a subjective 
philosophy. Never was it more clearly established, that the 
Church is not only an idea, but an institution, and that those 
elected to Christianity are elected not to a human society, 
but to the Divine and visible Church. The crucible of his- 
tory is indeed the only test of the original constitution of 
Christianity — it discriminates the dross from the metal, and 
you have virtually closed the discussion. Henceforth the 
principle must be conceded, 'no Bishop, no Church.' The 
book must inevitably promote that missionary spirit which 
is apostolic. As an argument for the proportion of faith, I 
think it without parallel, and believe it to be the first publi- 
cation really calculated to recover to the Church of Christ 
all candid readers seriously in search of certitude and truth. 
It will surely accelerate the unification of the Christians of 
America." — The Rev. W. Rix Attwood, Rector of All Saints' 
Church, Cleveland, Ohio. 

"For Parish and lending libraries, for the Clergyman's 
desk and the Layman's table it is worth its weight in gold, 
five times over. I have ordered fifty copies. I should like, 
indeed, to see a copy of it in every home in Georgia." — 
Bishop Nelson. 

"It is by far the best book on the subject I have ever 
seen. I have already sent out a half-dozen or more to do 
missionary work, and expect to make very extensive use of 
it." — Bishop Peterkin. 

"I can say of it what I can say of no other work. After 
reading the volume through, I began at once and read it 
over again, and I believe the second time with more pleasure 
and profit than the first. It was my purpose to read it a 
third time, which I shall now do in a careful perusal of your 
fourth edition. I have trumpeted the fame of your book far 
and near, and have distributed a dozen of the second edition, 
and have ordered a dozen more of the fourth." — The late Rev. 
James A. Buck, D. D., Washington, D. C. 

"The work is the best I have ever read. It will be pro- 
ductive of a tremendous amount of good in every parish of 
the land. I have ordered twenty-five copies." — The Rev. 
Percy T. Fenn, D. D., Wichita, Kansas. 

"In the first short hour I spent with your book, I deter- 
mined to procure 25 copies for distribution about my parish." 
—The Rev. N. S. Thomas, M. A., Philadelphia, Pa. 

"One of the fields for the book to work in, if you can get 
it into that field, is the men in our shops and factories. It 
gives me new interest to see how eager my men are to catch 



on to it. I ordered twenty-five copies, but was too late for 
the first edition. If you must die young you can die in peace. 
You have done a life's work in The Church for Americans." 
The Rev. Francis M. Hall, Cleveland, Ohio. 

"I shall to-day send for twenty-five copies. I want them 
in my parish." — The Rev. C. S. Aves, Galveston, Texas. 

"The Bishop has read it most carefully with great pleas- 
ure and satisfaction. He does not know of any other one 
book which contains so much that every Churchman ought 
to know communicated in such delightful form. The least 
instructed Churchman can understand its statements, and the 
best instructed find delight in the method of putting things." 
— Bishop Dudley in 'The Bishop's Letter." 

"We should be more hopeful of the progress and strength 
of the Church in this Diocese did we know that hundreds of 
those who read this notice would purchase the book, and 
read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it." — Bishop White- 
head in The Church News. 

"Charitable in tone, indisputable in facts, definite in teach- 
ing. It is the book to read, to own, to use, to circulate." — 
St. Andrew's Cross, New York. 

"These lectures are destined to great usefulness in teach- 
ing Church people and many who are not now members of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church what is the true nature of 
the Church, and what its mission to the American people. It 
is impossible in this place to give an account at all complete 
of the rich store of instruction in which the book abounds, 
and we must content ourselves with saying that it supplies 
a very large amount of information on the very subject upon 
which an intelligent American Churchman should be most 
thoroughly equipped. W r e predict a wide circulation of the 
work." — The Spirit of Missions, New York. 

"It should be in the hands of every member of the 
Church in the land who wishes to be instructed in regard to 
the origin and history of the Church. Nowhere else will they 
find the same information conveyed in a more convincing, 
and, at the same time, attractive manner. It is pre-eminently 
a book for the masses — for those who are not members of the 
Church; for those who are Communicants; and for those 
members of the Church who are denied her Services. No one 
can read the book without being profited and instructed 
thereby. By all means purchase the book, read it, and then 
loan it to others, for it is capable of doing much good. No 
rector of a parish could be engaged in more profitable work 
than by endeavoring to give the book a wide circulation in 
his parish for he would find that his people would become 
wise as to the things relating to the Church, and be well 
equipped to give an answer to every one that asketh."— 
Archdeacon Edwards in The Church Chronicle, Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 



"This book presents in a masterly style the best thought 
and argument in favor of the Episcopal Church. The grounds 
set forth in the Romanist Controversy seem incontestable. 
— The Cleveland Daily Leader. 

"This book has mainly to do with the institutional side 
of Christianity, and meets a need not met by Kip's 'Double 
Witness,' and similar publications. It owes its origin to the 
actual experience of Archdeacon Brown in prosecuting mis- 
sionary work in the Diocese of Ohio, and for that very reason 
will be found a practical and useful manual for others 
engaged in the same work of Church extension. It is a book 
to put into the hands of the thousands in all our Dioceses 
who know little or nothing about the origin and history of 
the Church, and are, on that account, prejudiced against 
her." — The Churchman, New York. 

"Being confined to the house for two days I have had 
time to read your most excellent book. I so enjoyed it 
that I wished to read it aloud to everyone. I 
wish that some rich Churchman would present a copy to 
every preacher in the United States. Perhaps we may find 
some one to do it. It seems truly wonderful that with 
all your other work you should have found time to examine 
so many authorities. They constitute quite a library. You 
cover more ground than any book of the kind, and the style, 
manner and temper are all calculated to win. You ought 
to start out an agent to sell the book in every town and 
hamlet. It will have a very great influence in promoting the 
growth of the Church." — The Rev. Wm. C. Hopkins, City 
Missionary, Toledo, Ohio. 

"Though I can only write in haste I must not defer 
thanking you for your interesting book. There is one point 
of it which I should particularly like to see worked out in 
full with the dates and all particulars: it is the 'Anglican 
Succession apart from Parker.' The attack on the Parker 
lines are - answered." — The Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, 
Hawarden Castle, England. 

"I am particularly pleased with the clear and plain style 
which makes it easy to read and understand. It looks as if 
you had brought whole libraries of books to the comprehen- 
sion and education of the Laity." — Judge J. D. Cleveland. 

"Have almost finished reading it once. It will be re-read. 
It is as interesting to me as a romance, and brimful of much- 
needed instruction. Since coming into the Church from the 
Methodists, I have done considerable reading along this line, 
and will say it is the best thing I have as yet seen. Our 
Rector speaks of it in terms of highest praise. He also will 
furnish a copy, and the two will be loaned and read every- 
where in this region." — J. A. Dobie, (Ex-Methodist) Lima, 
Ohio. 

"No adherent of Methodism or Presbyterianism or other 
forms of Denominationalism will read this book of yours 



and be the same man or woman afterwards. The arguments 
are irresistible, and your book will either bring its readers 
back to the old Mother Church of English Speaking Chris- 
tianity or haunt them with the uncomfortable feeling that 
they have closed their eyes to the truth." — The late Rev. 
Ephraim Watt, Hot Springs, Arkansas. 

"It is not like any other book on the subject. In many 
and most valuable particulars it surpasses every other book 
in the field. It is particularly interesting in style, and read- 
able, the kind of a book that holds the attention. That was 
the charm of McConnell's 'History of the American Church/ 
and I think it is one of the charms of yours also — it is so nat- 
ural." — The Rev. E. J. Cooke, Schuylerville, N. Y. 

"I have read it through. It will be of great use to Lay 
readers, Sunday School Teachers, the young Clergy and all 
Laymen."— The Rt. Rev. Hugh Miller Thompson, D. D. 
LL. D. 

"It will prove very helpful in answering many questions, 
and giving important information upon a great variety of sub- 
jects concerning which even a majority of our Church people 
are not sufficiently informed. It is written in a very pleas- 
ant style." — Bishop Whittaker. 

"The book bears evidence of great care in its preparation. 
The arguments are well sustained, and most needful for these 
times." — Bishop Garrett. 

"I had seen it before at Middletown, where the Pre- 
siding Bishop had turned my attention to the remarkable 
maps which you have devised. The book will be very help- 
ful." — Bishop Johnson, Los Angeles. 

"I have read it carefully through, and I beg leave to 
return to you my most sincere thanks for the pleasure and 
benefit which the perusal has afforded to me. Both in the 
range of the subjects treated, and in the soundness and power 
of the treatment, the book seems to me to have extraordinary 
claims upon the attention and interest of all readers. It is, 
of course, a book addressed to the people, and it is pre- 
sented in a popular style. But it is none the less based upon 
profound and just thought, and a true and extensive learn- 
ing, and brings out the whole case so that no one can be 
seriously misled by any of its statements, and so that, in 
point of principle and historical fact, the reader who got his 
first information from it must inevitably be started in the 
right direction. Such a reader might in some particulars, 
when he came to follow the line of study and thought 
which you have opened to him, find occasion to qualify or 
re-state for himself some of your positions. But he would 
never feel himself to have been misled, or obliged to deny 
the substance of what you have taught him. One should not 
expect from a broadside of grape such precision or aim as 
would come from a single rifle. Your book is not one, but 
a succession of such broadsides, every one well directed and 



effective in dismantling some of the many oppositions to the 
just claims of the Church." — The Rev. Professor Wm. Jones 
Seabury, D. D. 

''I am forbidden by your express command to give you 
any praise. I think that you said that you have had com- 
pliments enough, and that what you wish now is friendly 
criticism. I will run the risk of your wrath enough to say 
that I greatly enjoyed reading the Lectures. Moreover, I 
want to congratulate you on the thoroughness with which you 
have worked out the questions, and not the least on the 
clearness and strength of your style. No one can misun- 
derstand you." — The Rev. Professor Davies. 

"As a Bishop of God's Church, let me thank you most 
heartily for having written the book. Taking it as a whole, 
I consider it the best thing in the line of apologetics that has 
appeared in the American Church, and even, so far as I have 
seen, in the Anglican Communion. You have accomplished 
a very difficult task. You have presented great principles, 
important and clearly established historical facts and acute and 
sound reasoning in such form as to be readily grasped by any 
mind able to think at all. Your book is not a popular one 
because you have not skimmed the surface of things, for seldom 
does a work of this kind go to the very bottom of the mat- 
ters discussed as yours has done. Your clear style reminds 
me of the river at San Antonio, Texas, as I saw it years ago. 
The stream seemed, owing to its great transparency, to 
be only a few inches deep, where the actual depth was from 
eight to twelve feet. This, to my mind, is the perfection of 
style. You have done the Church a very great service." — 
Bishop Pierce. 

GUARANTEE. 

If for any reason whatsoever any one who orders a copy 
of "The Church for Americans" from The Arkansas Church- 
man's Publishing Company does not find it in all respects 
satisfactory it may be returned within ten days and the pur- 
chase price will be refunded. 

The Arkansas Churchman's Pub. Co. 

Postoffice Box 468. 
Little Rock, Arkansas. 



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